Hamilton makes Mercedes admission with victories 'a few races' away

Lewis Hamilton does not believe Mercedes is yet in a position to fight for race victories, but hopes the team can be in the hunt in a few weekends' time.

The 39-year-old insisted one last grand prix win with the eight-time constructors' champions is not his immediate primary target as his time with the Brackley outfit draws to a close, instead training his focus on consistency and closing the points gap to those above. 

Mercedes has added performance to the W15 over the past three rounds, starting with a new front wing on George Russell's car at the Monaco Grand Prix. It has transformed the team's fortunes, having struggled in the early part of the season amid a change in car philosophy over the winter.

The subsequent rounds in Canada and Spain offered its best returns of the year, with back-to-back three-four finishes and a pole position for Russell at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. 

However, Hamilton has cautioned against getting carried away.

"It would be nice," Hamilton replied to media including RacingNews365 when asked how important a final race win with the team has called home since 2013 would be. 

"But I think, considering where we've come from, just having consistency and seeing if we can put the team further up in the points - I think it's got to be the target.

"Right now, let's just try and have more consistent weekends like this and then we'll see. But we aren't yet currently in a position to be able to fight them for wins. 

"You would say that maybe Montréal… I mean, George probably should have won that one, but if I'd qualified where I feel I should have, there was potential also there too. So we'll see in the next few races."

Mercedes needs to 'bolt on' performance

Despite the step forward, Hamilton feels the final two legs of the European triple-header will favour McLaren and Red Bull.

At the hands of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, respectively, both teams enjoyed a three-tenths of a second per lap advantage over the Mercedes pair in Barcelona. 

Therefore, the seven-time world champion is casting his sights further afield, focusing on the need to "bolt on" performance as F1 heads towards the summer break.

"We've got these high-speed circuits [coming up] - the McLarens always been quick and the Red Bull has been quick in A1 Ring," said Hamilton.

"Silverstone, they'll also be very fast there but I'm hoping that we are able to eke a little bit closer to them and give them a bit more trouble in the next four or five races. 

"And then we’ve just got to keep bringing upgrades. We've got to keep improving the car. There's a clear improvement and there's just clear areas where we need to bolt on performance so that we can be in the fight with them."