Hamilton: We’ve been on the corner for ages

Despite many believing that Mercedes are edging closer to the front of the grid, the remains that Lewis Hamilton was almost 0.9s off pole in France while he finished over ten seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen, the latter in tyre conservation mode.

Hamilton seems to be of the opinion that the eight time Formula 1 Constructors Champions are still not our of the woods.

"No we can’t can’t say that we’ve turned a corner," he told Sky Sports F1. "We’ve been on the corner for ages and we’ve been progressing around it very slowly.

"Silverstone was great fight and we’ve had really good consistency," he added. "I think in the last race we looked like we took a step back from the others, or they took a step forward again.

"So every single lap had a deficit of almost a second. But our race pace is a little bit better than our qualifying pace, and our reliability is exceptional. So that’s been very, very positive," the Briton explained.

While not being fast, Mercedes have been exemplary in their operation and race execution capitalizing on opportunities handed to them.

Hamilton pointed out: "We’ve also relied a lot on the others not finishing so I think that overshadows the fact that we still have a lot of work to do.

"I’m enjoying it more than just because I’m getting more in a much better place with the balance of the car in a much better place with where we put the set-up," he said of the improving W13.

"Bono and the rest of the guys are definitely happy working with the car and start to see some progress in terms of set-up and those sorts of things," he revealed.

Hamilton is currently sixth in the Drivers' Championship on 127 points, while leader Max Verstappen has scored 233.