Lewis Hamilton, in his 300th F1 race, finished second behind Max Verstappen in French GP, with George Russell third despite Mercedes' pace deficit; The season continues next weekend with the Hungarian GP, all live on Sky Sports F1
Sunday 24 July 2022 18:04, UK
Lewis Hamilton hailed an "incredible result" at the French GP as he achieved his best finish of the season in his milestone 300th Formula 1 race.
Hamilton, starting fourth, enjoyed a great start on Sunday and then sped away from Red Bull's Sergio Perez - while Charles Leclerc's crash then elevated him right behind Max Verstappen.
While Hamilton couldn't stick with Verstappen, with Mercedes still not able to match their rivals and still waiting for that elusive first victory of the season, the second-place finish was his best of 2022 and continued his podium streak.
"What a day and weekend," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "I'm so proud of the team, this is an incredible result.
"Winning races and getting results like this, it's about the whole package.
"Of course, we know that we don't have quite the pace of the two teams ahead but reliability is a huge fundamental part of the process. I'm so proud of my team for having the reliability that we do have."
Hamilton was eight-tenths off pole on Saturday but only 10s off Verstappen in Sunday's race. George Russell ensured a great day for Mercedes by finishing third and grabbing the team's first double podium of the year.
"What a great result," added Hamilton. "George did a great job today as well and to get second and third is really special for us.
"We were expecting to be a little more competitive but even in the race, it was great that I was just able to keep [Perez] behind and at bay and what a great job George did to get by him."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, meanwhile, praised Hamilton: "He is absolutely on it. He keeps pushing the team, has a positive mindset and even if the days are really grim, like yesterday when we were nine tenths off, he never stops pushing."
Hamilton admitted in Sunday night's press conference he could only keep up with Verstappen for "two laps", with a win never looking likely, while he expanded on Mercedes' positive steps.
"The beginning of the year was - not miserable because it could always be way worse - but from a driver's perspective, understanding this car was so confusing, we were trying so many different things," he explained. "Trusting the machine beneath you really held us back.
"To now be in a position where we're starting to understand the car, and we're seeing more consistency, has given us much more of an enjoyable drive. We still lack performance, but we can make small chips, constantly just chipping away.
"Maybe one big week will come at one stage and we'll be right there."
Russell, who passed Perez late on, said Mercedes were now on the "right path".
"Max, for sure, was just cruising until the end. So, if we want to fight for victories, we still need to find more performance, but I think as a team we feel like we're on the right path now.
"I think we have a clear direction of where we need to go with our development. It's a really great thing in itself, it doesn't mean that we can actually achieve more performance but at least we believe if we go in this direction, we will find more performance. I think that post-summer break, it's going to be exciting."
Wolff warned that the team needed to "stay humble".
"Our car is just not good at the moment to fight with the guys in front; I'm always a little bit pessimistic because I need to be," he said.
"We're just lacking six or seven tenths to the leaders and whilst we have stabilised in the race and Verstappen hadn't been gaining more ground, he was also looking after his tyres.
"Overall, the team effort was great, the drivers did a really good job. George was clever and fast, Lewis was the lion who was just always there. We're doing the maximum at the moment on race day.
"Sometimes we've been talking about what would happen if we're not winning again and how we would recover? We had some really difficult times at the beginning of the year, but in a way we have all set into the situation that we are the 'hunters' now. "
