During interviews with the media ahead of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton suggested he believed in the potential of W15 but acknowledged the point deficit to Max Verstappen.

The seven-time World Champion is currently standing ninth in the Drivers’ Championship with only eight points after the first two races of the season.

On the one hand, Hamilton probably could have done a better job, as his teammate George Russell is currently fourth. On the other hand, Mercedes still hasn’t got their car in the optimal window to perform.

As Russell said, Silver Arrows showed great potential during practice sessions ahead of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but come qualifying; they somehow lost the performance on both occasions.

It is evident that the German team is struggling to make their car work, but the 39-year-old asserted it still feels much better than what they had during the last two years. As total-motorsport reports, he told the media in Australia:

“We’ve made big enhancements and in terms of general driving it, it feels like much, much better, much more like a race car.”

“But there are jobs that can drop on one end or the other. And it was sort of a narrower window with these types of jobs.”

In terms of whether he believes Mercedes could win any of the races this season, the seven-time World Champion said he believes his team still has the right mindset to do so.

“I do believe that we’ve got still got that winning mindset within the team and I have absolute faith that these guys didn’t face any problems.”

It will be tough for Mercedes to bring a challenge to Verstappen, who’s had the best start to the season ever and already has a healthy lead in the Championship, and Hamilton knows that. He added:

“I have to negate the fact that Max has 50 points that we don’t have. It’s a very long season also, so things can change. It’s going to be very hard to catch those guys.”