Hamilton pinpoints key area for improvement after summer break

Lewis Hamilton has identified one key area of his race weekend that he needs to improve upon in the second half of the 2019 season, saying he must do better in qualifying.

The five-time world champion has been in superb form again this campaign and has won eight out of the opening 12 races, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen of Red Bull both winning two each. The Brit leads the championship by 62 points, putting him on course for his sixth driver’s title.

However, he reckons he can still further improve after the August summer break by ensuring he puts himself in the best position possible for winning on the Sunday of a GP weekend by gaining better qualifying results.

"There's always things you're able to learn from these races," said Hamilton.

"Even though the last one was pretty strong there are still areas that can be better – for example, qualifying is still not perfect yet and so I've got to work on that.

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Over the past few races, Red Bull have appeared to close the gap somewhat on Mercedes as Verstappen collected victories in Austria and Germany, but Hamilton is happy with the speed being achieved in races, while he believes there could be more to come from the Mercedes car.

"In general the race pace has been really strong – something I'm really happy with and bit by bit [we're] still understanding the car more,” he added.

"It's the same approach I've always had. I just take it one race at a time."

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