Lewis Hamilton has set his sights on victory at one of the final three grands prix of the season in a bid to avoid a second consecutive winless campaign.
2022 was the first season of the Briton’s career so far in which he failed to win a single race.
And he readily admits that Red Bull’s superior pace this year makes it difficult to avoid a repeat but has still set his sights on his first victory since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - beginning with this weekend in Brazil.
“I anticipate Red Bull will blitz it because their car is great,” Hamilton said in the build-up to Sunday’s race in Sao Paulo.
“But if that is not the case, I will be ready to take the fight to them and, if it can be anything like Austin and we get our strategy better, then that would be incredible.
“I came away empty-handed last season. I don’t plan on that this year.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes team were victorious at Interlagos a year ago when team-mate George Russell picked up the first win of his Formula 1 career in a Silver Arrows one-two.
Hamilton was the best of the rest behind Max Verstappen last weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix as the Dutchman picked up a record 16th win of the most dominant season in F1 history.
But despite the upward curve, the seven-time world champion insists he is not getting carried away by the improved pace of the Mercedes looking ahead to next season, having already experienced something of a false dawn this time a year ago in Brazil.
“After the last couple of races, I have been getting messages from people saying, ‘it is looking good’,” said the 38-year-old. “But I said to them, ‘well, it was looking good at the end of last year too but we started this season 1.5 seconds behind’.
“I am not dazzled by where we are currently but I am thinking long-term at the moment and, in the short-term, trying to solidify second in the constructors' [championship].”
