Lewis Hamilton dismissed the suggestion that completing the current Formula 1 season will be a "chore" despite Mercedes seemingly being out of contention for race wins.
Since making the switch to Mercedes, Hamilton has become accustomed to being the favourite to win most races. After adapting quickest to new rules at the start of the Hybrid Era in 2014, the Silver Arrows were the dominant force in the sport.
But that is no longer the case. Another major car design rule change has seen them slip behind Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of car performance, and left them unable to compete for victories this season.
Hamilton and team-mate George Russell have come close to challenging for victories on high-downforce, smooth circuits like Zandvoort in recent weeks. But even then it wasn't to be, with defending champion Verstappen in imperious form.
The priority for Mercedes is to nail their 2023 car development so they are back where they want to be next year. But they must first complete the final six races of the current season, though Hamilton disagreed with the notion that it would be a laborious task without a realistic prospect of winning.
"I don’t see it as a chore," he replied when asked about the run-in. "I genuinely love the work that we are doing regardless of whether we are fighting for first or wherever we are fighting for, I still love getting in a huddle with the engineers and the mechanics weekend in and weekend out.
"I love having the back-to-backs because if you have a crap weekend like that then you can get back on it quickly, so every day I still love the challenge of fighting this car because you get in and there's a fight. The amount of engineering that we have to do to try to dial it in is tricky and I would say that probably just increases your accessibility to improve your engineering side. So I'm enjoying that.
"I don't ever wish time by so I don't want to wish that the season goes by quicker. There will be a lot of information to gain. As a driver, I want to figure out how I can improve and make sure that things like Spa [where Hamilton crashed out in an incident involving Fernando Alonso ] don't happen."
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott also said there is more to play for this year, with second place in the constructors' championship still up for grabs. "We want to try and fight Ferrari for that P2 position, we want to try and win a race this season or multiple races ideally but most of all we want to get ourselves back on track so we are fighting properly for a championship next year," he said.
