Hamilton explains hopes ahead of Silverstone after 'reality check' for Ferrari in Austria

Lewis Hamilton has assessed his prospects for the British Grand Prix after what he labelled a “reality check” for Ferrari last time out in Austria, with the seven-time World Champion hopeful that the energy from his home crowd can bring him “that extra bit of speed”.

Hamilton will return to Silverstone this weekend for his second home event since joining the Scuderia, the track being one at which he has scored a record-breaking nine victories and enjoyed plenty of memorable moments across the years.

Reflecting firstly on the bond between himself, the fans and the circuit, Hamilton explained during Thursday’s media day: “It goes 20 years strong, so it's pretty deep. It's been building for a long, long time, since my first pole position here in 2007. It's phenomenal when you come here.

“I heard that we're going to have the biggest crowd this weekend that we've probably ever had. It's such a privilege for us Brits to be here, representing the country, also in the height of all these great sporting moments – you've got Wimbledon going on, and the World Cup as well, with England winning yesterday which was good as well.”

Looking back at the Austrian Grand Prix – where he finished in fifth place, just two weeks on from his commanding win in Barcelona – Hamilton shared further insight into why the weekend was a “reality check” for Ferrari, the squad having struggled to match the pace of their rivals.

“Obviously we had some great performances before, but the fact is, as you can see in the race, we lose quite a lot of time – I think it's like four tenths of a lap we lose in a straight line, so it's hard to recover that through corners,” he explained.

“I think we've got a great car, fundamentally. We've just got to continue to work until we maximise what we can and get the best results we can, and score as many points as we can until we can close that deficit.”

Asked if he felt more confident about the weekend ahead at Silverstone – with the track’s faster corners being more reminiscent of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Hamilton answered: “It's not that I'm not confident, it's the fact that we've got long straights. I think this is going to be the most unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment.”

The Briton also insisted that he is not thinking about how it would feel to clinch a 10th win at the track, but acknowledged that the team have been tapping into his expertise around the iconic circuit in their preparations for the event, which will also feature the fourth Sprint of the season.

“My engineers have been asking me, how did you do it, what did you do, and how do you normally run the car here, so I hope that I've steered them in the right direction,” said Hamilton. “But we only have one practice session tomorrow, so it's going to be definitely a challenge throughout.

“I'm really not thinking about the trophy. I don't think any of the drivers actually think about it. You think about just obviously executing the best you can through the weekend, trying to bring the right energy, absorbing the amazing energy that we have here from all the fans.

“I think Nigel [Mansell] said it best – on your home turf you get that extra bit of speed coming from the energy from the fans, so I'm hoping that propels us and helps us close the gaps to those guys that are ahead.”