‘There’s still a long way to go’ – Hamilton reveals his focus in the title fight

Lewis Hamilton has explained his approach to the title battle heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver optimistic that the team can continue to work hard and “get the most out of it”.

After the seven-time World Champion took his superb maiden win for the Scuderia in Barcelona, there was speculation that he could take the fight to Mercedes consistently enough to challenge for another championship.

However, Ferrari haven’t finished on the podium since the Belgian Grand Prix, opening the door for Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to close up and secure significant points for McLaren and Red Bull respectively.

Hamilton still sits third in the standings, albeit only five points clear of Norris and over 100 adrift of leader Kimi Antonelli, and has a clear vision of his goals for the rest of the season.

“We’re just hoping to have some cleaner weekends and just focus on enjoying each race and trying to get the most out of it,” he told the media on Wednesday in Baku.

“I think there are positives to take out of the last few races, it's just that they haven't been the best in terms of execution and we've not had the best results. The positives we take forward and we try to learn from the areas where we weren't as good, but I believe that we can make improvements and I think we have. I'm excited for this weekend.

“[Antonelli] is 101 points ahead of me. I think just in two races he gained something like 40-odd points on me. We've been working so hard just to gain a couple of points here and there, so there's still a long way to go.

“I think the focus for me is to try to make sure we can hold on to second, if not somehow catch Mercedes for the Constructors’ – I think that would be remarkable. I think we also just have to think about where we were last year and where we've come to this year.

“While it sometimes seems like doom and gloom, you have to look at the positives. We've been fighting. We've had wins and podiums. The team have done an incredible job in terms of bringing upgrades, so you really have to acknowledge the good things that we've done this year, and I know lots of people focus on the negatives.

“For me, again, if I can battle with George [Russell] and somehow get ahead of him – which would be very difficult because Mercedes are the leaders – I think if we could look at the end of the year at managing to stay in the top three, even second, it would be a huge achievement for us as a team.”

A strong result at the Baku City Circuit would help Ferrari take another step closer to that ambition, but while Hamilton called the track “a really fun rollercoaster ride”, his team mate Charles Leclerc was more focused on the challenges.

While the Monegasque has achieved a record four pole positions at the venue, he’s been unable to convert any of them to a win. That task would be made much harder if he receives a grid penalty for taking an upgraded power unit this weekend, which he refused to confirm.

“Kimi went from last to first [in Italy],” he said. “I don’t know if that's realistic for us if we had to take the penalty. As of now, it’s in the pool of our engines that we can use.

“I won’t go too much into detail on the plan of what engine we’ll use because that’s still something strategic for us. We don’t want to give that away, but it’s definitely back in the pool of engines that we can use, so that’s a good thing.

“Qualifying is probably where we struggle the most in terms of car performance. If we are in front in Qualifying, then I’m hopeful for the race. Before thinking about that, we’ve got to prepare for the weekend as we should.

“With this year’s car, it seems that there’s a lot of variability from one weekend to the other just based on the optimisation of your power unit. On a track like this, it will play a big role as well, so I think that’s where we’ll focus.

“It’s a track that I enjoy driving and it has been good for me on Saturdays, mostly, but the races have been more challenging. Hopefully we can fix that for this year.”