The legendary Brit was struggling with the balance of the W14 throughout the weekend at Suzuka but still managed to extend his advantage over team-mate George Russell in the standings with a P5 finish.
While the result was a positive step forward from a difficult set of practice sessions and qualifying stint, Hamilton was not satisfied with Mercedes’ overall showing with their lead driver ending the race 50 seconds back from Verstappen in P1.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about what his team need to do in the factory, Hamilton said: “The next six months have got to be the greatest six months of development that we’ve ever, ever had to close that gap. To be really banging on the door.
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“But the evidence is there at the McLarens and we can’t turn a blind eye to that. We’ve got to look at what they’ve done and go in that direction. That is the direction. But I truly believe my team can do it.
“We’ve always been great at putting downforce on the car, it’s just that with the way our car currently works, adding downforce isn’t working – it just makes it bounce more.
“Hopefully with the change in philosophy we will be back to where this team deserve because this is a world championship team. We still are an amazing team and I have absolute faith in everyone. But decisions that are made in this period of time are critical for our trajectory.”
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