Lewis Hamilton has predicted ‘one hell of a second half of the season’ as Mercedes continue to make ground on Red Bull and McLaren. The seven-time world champion has two wins and a podium in his last three races ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

At the start of the campaign, that was nearly unthinkable. Mercedes were the fourth-fastest car for the opening handful of races, battling Aston Martin for that honour. However, in the aftermath of the Monaco Grand Prix, something clicked for the Silver Arrows.

After a steady improvement in Montreal, Hamilton picked up his first podium of the season in Barcelona. A fourth-placed finish followed in Austria, before the legendary Brit won on pace at his home race at Silverstone. He then followed this up with a podium in Hungary and another win at Spa-Francorchamps.

Mercedes’ presence at the front of the field means that there are now four teams capable of winning races each weekend with Toto Wolff’s outfit and Ferrari both waiting to pounce if Red Bull and McLaren slip up. There have now been seven different winners in 14 Grands Prix this season.

Discussing the current state of F1, Hamilton explained: “It’s really fantastic, I think, for the sport, to be having such close teams and drivers. The pedigree of drivers at the top today are really elite and amazing.

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“We didn’t expect to be competing with the McLarens or the Red Bulls at this point in the season, you know, with how we started off, so for us to now have closed up and be… It’s going to be one hell of a second half of the season, for sure.”

Despite Mercedes’ steps forward, Hamilton does not believe that he can reel in Max Verstappen at the top of the championship standings, with 127 points separating the pair heading into the summer break. “No. It would be high hopes,” he said, ruling out a title charge.

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“But, I mean, if we can continue this kind of performance as we’ve had 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.

“I think, obviously, 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.”

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