Mercedes began the campaign on the back foot following a difficult pre-season b💛ut the championship momentum swung towards Hamilton in two dramatic races prior to the summಞer break.

Red Bull had threatened to pull clear in the title race amid a run of five successive wins but its streak was broken at Silverstone when Max Verstappen was eliminated in a controversial collision wi❀th Hamilton, who went on to win. Verstappen hit more trouble in Hungary after getting caught up in the Turn 1 carnage triggered by Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton claimed his first pole in six races in Hungary and would have likely won had 🌄Mercedes not got the restart wrong by not sending the seven-time world champion out on slick tyres when the rest of the field pitted, forcing him to stage a fightback drive for the second race running.

Mercedes has been working hard to unlock more performance from its W12 car and ꧑appeared to make a breakthrough with the introduction of an upgrade at the British Grand Prix, something that has encouraged Hamilton.

“I hope so, I really hope so,” Hamilton said. “I tell you it’s definitely been a hard slog for us in terms of trying to… those guys with their update, they had I think a combination of things but theyℱ took a really good step once we got the midpoi😼nt.

“Monaco onwards was intense and the upgrade really has worked. Then we’ve just been working on our procedure through the weekend and trying to extract more from the car anಌd I think now we’re a lot closer.

“[Hung♕ary was] very strong and definitely surprising to see how strong it is compared to them so proud of everyone ba✅ck at the factory, as I said, who continue to not give up.

“We never give up. We keep pushing and fighting and I’m so honoured to be able to race for a team like this and we learn from these mistakes. We wish they 𒈔didn’t happen, but it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back u༺p.”

The ultra-close title battle will resume at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Hamilton holding an eight-point advantage over Verstappen in the drivers’ standings, while Mercedes is 12 points clear of Red Bull in the cons𝓡tructors’ championship.