Lewis Hamilton confident of Mercedes 'winning a race' in 2022 F1 season with 'a little bit more digging' and 'a little bit more hard work'

Lewis Hamilton has been riding a wave of positivity as of late. According to the seven-time world champion, there's a good chance of Mercedes winning a race this season. At the start of the season, Mercedes were woefully off the pace at all times. It appeared that the team would find it hard to pick up anything meaningful this season.

Since the F1 Spanish GP, however, there have been improvements. The car has gotten better and the porpoising is now a thing of the past. So much so that it gives Lewis Hamilton the belief that the team could win a race this season. Speaking to the media, Hamilton talked about how encouraging it was to see the improvements the team has made in the last few races. He also felt that with "a little bit more digging," the team could end up closing the gap to the front even further.

"[It's] definitely [been] hugely encouraging. Particularly [because] for a long, long time, we would make changes and not see it do what [we thought] it was going to do or improve the car. It was a good step in Barcelona, but then we had several difficult races following it."

"Then we just had these last [few] races which were quite strong, and that's really encouraged us that we're moving in the right direction, that there really is potential in the car."

"With a little bit more digging, a little bit more hard work, hopefully we can get a bit closer to having a chance of winning a race. So I truly believe we can get a race win this year."

Lewis Hamilton did not feel confident of a win at the start of the season

Lewis Hamilton admitted that it's fair to say he didn't feel confident about picking up a win earlier in the season. The Mercedes was close to a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari in qualifying and it did not appear as if they'd catch up.

"Earlier this year, [I] definitely wasn't sure we'd ever get a win in this car. Obviously, that's not the way we like to think, but it was feeling like, 'J***s, it's a long, long way to catch everyone up, knowing the progress everyone makes'."

The Mercedes driver is riding a three-race podium streak and has been in top form recently.