Hamilton explains how ‘overdelivering’ Mercedes keep finding gains

Lewis Hamilton has pinpointed the key areas of improvement from Mercedes which have been ‘overdelivering’ with four wins from the past five races to take a dominant position in the Formula 1 world championship fight.

The defending F1 champion extended his advantage to 40 points over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel with a faultless victory at the Singapore Grand Prix triggered by a ‘magic’ qualifying lap record for pole position.

While the general assertions see Ferrari holding the faster package, Hamilton and Mercedes have notched up seven wins to Vettel and Ferrari’s five so far this year with the same tallies in place for pole positions between the two drivers.

Hamilton has put the constant Mercedes car improvements down to its unrelenting development push which he feels has been progressed by deeper and clearer driver feedback understanding.

“I think we are overdelivering, if our true pace in 100 we are pulling out 102, and that is an awesome feeling,” Hamilton said after his Singapore GP victory. “If you could see the meeting I had with the guys, the energy with everyone is really inspiring.

“Considering I’ve been with these guys for six years they could be like ‘let’s get it over and done with as we won’ but they are not. They dig deep and find questions and the communication has been an improvement more than ever this year.”

Hamilton feels the clearer communication is delivering information to the Mercedes factory to increase its accuracy with upgrades meaning it produces more potency with new parts compared to Ferrari’s updates.

“It’s just great teamwork, very diligent engineering,” he explained in the post-race press conference. “We’re constantly learning about the car and refining it but we’re bring out upgrades every now and then but it’s pretty much the same times as they (Ferrari) bring theirs.

“But it’s more understanding the tyres, it’s more getting more comfortable with hitting the nail on the head with the balance of the car and eking out each little bit.”

The four-time F1 world champion also reflected on his own self-improvements as a driver on his mental and physical preparations and says changes to both have provided their own key gains.

During the build-up to the Singapore race Hamilton launched his own clothing range with Mercedes partners Tommy Hilfiger in Shanghai before jetting to New York for further non-racing commitments. A third long-haul trip followed to return East to Singapore and Hamilton feels his crushing victory is proof his set-up is helping him in his hunt for a fifth F1 world title.

“In terms of my driving, I have these others things that I do outside which are stimulating,” he said. “I know there were questions at the beginning of the week whether it is distracting and naturally you come here and if I put one foot wrong, people are going to point to the things that I do outside as a result of it.

“You can see, it doesn’t affect my performance and if anything those things they add to the performance really.

“Health-wise, I’m super healthy. I went on a plant-based diet last year - I started here last year - and it’s been the best year of my life physically.”