The six-time world champion reached the 300 GP mark in F1 at Paul Ricard last weekend. After the race, he said he enjoyed the category "more than ever" and assessed himself as "still fresh".
Best result of the season with a 2nd place in the French GP, Mercedes understanding more and more the W13... the current state of Lewis Hamilton's 2022 in Formula 1 is very different from the one seen at the beginning of the year.
In Paul Ricard, the seven-time world champion reached the 300 GP mark in F1 and, asked about the future, said he enjoyed the sport more and more. Hamilton, remember, has a contract with Mercedes until the end of 2023.
"First of all, I want to thank you for getting this far. But I still feel fresh, and I still feel I have fuel left in the tank. I'm enjoying what I'm doing and proud to work, every day, with this amazing group of people. I'm enjoying working with the sport more than ever," he said.
"The 300 GP mark was mentioned at the beginning of the weekend, and I didn't think much about it. But on race morning, I woke up and felt incredibly grateful, thinking about all the people who have been with me along the way - Ron Dennis and Mercedes giving me a chance when I was young, Martin Whitmarsh and Mansour Ojjeh at McLaren, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda, Ola Kallenius, Markus Schafer and Dieter Zetsche. All these incredible people have supported me since I was 13 years old. All my races were with a Mercedes engine, and I am very proud to be here representing them. We have to keep working hard, and every weekend I hope to be closer (to Ferrari and Red Bull)," Hamilton added.
Still on the current Formula 1 season, the seven-time world champion acknowledged that Mercedes is still far from winning - but noted the German team's evolution in the year to justify his excitement.
"I want to get back to winning and that will take time, but I'm sure we'll sit down sometime and talk about the future. I want to keep building. It's one thing to race, but it's another thing to continue to do more out of the sport - something that we and Mercedes have been able to, and will, do," he pointed out.
"I'm enjoying it more ... 100 percent. The start of the year was not miserable, it can always be worse, but confusing from a perspective of a driver trying to understand his car. Now we are in a position where we understand the car better, and that has given us a much more enjoyable ride. We are still behind in performance in some areas, but slowly we are getting there. Unfortunately, we can't make big leaps at the moment, but who knows?
Formula 1 returns next weekend, July 29-31, at the Hungaroring, with the Hungarian Grand Prix - which concludes the first part of the championship.