Lewis Hamilton hopes Mercedes aren’t ‘too far away’ from first win ahead of ‘epic’ Singapore GP

The Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011

Lewis Hamilton remains hopeful that Mercedes are “not too far away” from a first win of the season as F1 returns to Singapore this weekend.

The eight-time constructors’ champions are yet to taste victory in 2022 and with just six races to go, the Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011.

Hamilton himself has a record to maintain too, having won a race in each of his previous 15 seasons in F1, yet has not been top of the podium in the previous 16 Grands Prix this year.

But Hamilton, a four-time winner in Singapore, believes Mercedes are in a “much better place than they’ve ever been” this year as the team look to overhaul Ferrari, 35 points ahead in the standings.

“Good to be back [in Singapore], 2019 feels like a lifetime ago,” Hamilton said, in the FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s race.

“The track is epic to drive. It’s a very bumpy ride, that lap in 2018 [qualifying] was definitely one of the best laps of my career. The hope is always that you can feel something similar, the feeling that day was something very unique.

“It was a track we struggled at quite a lot, due to ride quality that we hadn’t been as good as some of the others. We will discover if this is a true theory this weekend.

“We hope the car works better here, it really depends how bumpy it is. The bumps often upset the car. I have no expectations at all, just trying to have the best weekend with whatever we’re faced with.

“We’ve learned a huge amount about the car It’s definitely a huge help knowing where the working window is, we’re able to predict where we’re going. We know where those limitations are, we just have to try and work around them. We’re in a much better place than we’ve ever been so I hope we’re not far away.”

Max Verstappen can win his second world title in Singapore this weekend, should he win the race and other results go in his favour. The Red Bull star currently has a 116-point lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.