Hamilton: It’s going to be one hell of a second half of the season

Hamilton expects "one hell of a second half of the season." Mercedes' seven-time F1 World Champion is one of seven drivers to have won so far this year, despite Max Verstappen and Red Bull seemingly repeating their domination from the 2023 F1 season. Last year at this time, the Blues had 14 races and 14 wins. This year, they have only won seven of the first 14.

The fact that Red Bull's dominance is finally being checked, is much needed for F1 reckoned Hamilton: "It’s really fantastic for the sport to have such close competition between teams and drivers. The pedigree of drivers at the top today is really elite and amazing.

"We didn’t expect to be competing with the McLarens or the Red Bulls at this point in the season, considering how we started off. So for us to now have closed the gap and be… It’s going to be one hell of a second half of the season, for sure," Hamilton told F1.com.

Verstappen (and by extension, Red Bull as Sergio Perez is AWOL and podium-less since China) has not won a race since Spain, but his strong early-season form has served him well, as he still leads the 2024 F1 World Championship standings by a comfortable 78 points over Lando Norris, with ten rounds remaining. Only a significant downturn at Red Bull will prevent him from claiming his fourth F1 title.

Despite his two wins at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton remains realistic about his chances of securing this year's F1 title as a final hurrah with Mercedes: "No, it would be high hopes. But if we can continue this kind of performance as we’ve had in the last few races, which has been fantastic…

"I think if we can start our weekends off a little bit better, hopefully, we can continue. The McLaren was very strong [in Belgium], we were just a bit further ahead early on [in the race], but yeah, we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

As for the apparent end of Red Bull's dominance, Hamilton, like most neutrals, is relieved: “I think for all of us, it’s been a difficult couple of years getting the car into a place where we can consistently fight for victories.

"I’m so motivated, so excited for the second half of the season, which is ultimately building up towards 2025. When you look at the competition now, there’s no reason why we can’t fight, and if the season had started in Montreal, the championship standings would be looking very, very different.

“It’s going to be great. I think there’s so much motivation from all the other teams to get back to the front, from McLaren, from Ferrari, from ourselves, so for sure, it’s not going to be easy, and hopefully, we’ll see a good fight on our hands into next year," added Hamilton, who will be a Ferrari driver then.

The Briton is on his final ten-race run with Mercedes. Together with the German brand (which also powered him during his McLaren days), Hamilton has won 105 Grands Prix and seven F1 World titles - his first with McLaren, and the rest with his current team.