Hamilton hopes to challenge Verstappen: 'Then maybe put up a real fight'

"I definitely think it's always difficult to be able to say, 'hey, it's going to be good here, it's going to be good there'. But we have definitely taken a step forward and over these next four races I can't predict which one we're going to be closer and which one we may or may not be further away," Hamilton told Sky Sports about the remainder of 2023.

Last year, George Russell was three-tenths short of pole position, and it was Hamilton himself who seized second place. "I think we were close here last year, so hopefully we'll be a little bit closer maybe this weekend. If we get the strategy right this weekend, maybe we can really take the fight to them," Hamilton added.

For Mercedes as a team, it has also been a while since a driver was able to climb to the top step of the podium on Sunday. That honour belonged to Russell in 2022 in Brazil.