Hamilton hopes home F1 crowd and upgrades will help him ‘take it to Red Bull’

The seven-time world champion is 32 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen heading into this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone with Mercedes looking to end a run of five consecutive defeats to its main rival.

Hamilton, who has won the British Grand Prix a record seven times throughout his career, is set to be roared on by a full capacity crowd for his home race with around 140,000 spectators expected on race day.

“Ever since the first time I came and raced here in 2006, but particularly in Formula 1, 2007, the roar of the crowd here is unlike anywhere else,” Hamilton said.

“Considering we‘ve had a drought in terms of fans not being at the races in the past year, the energy has definitely been very much missed and you arrive with this excitement and nervousness also, because you want to deliver for everyone and you want to have the best weekend.”

Mercedes has brought an upgrade package to Silverstone and Hamilton hopes it will help reduce the deficit to Red Bull and bring the team into contention for a first win since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

“There’s a lot of changes on the car but it’s not a massive update in terms of the gap that we’ve seen in the races, but it definitely helps us in terms of closing that gap quickly,” he explained.

“A lot of work has gone on over the past couple weeks, so I’m hoping that coming back to a circuit that suits us a little bit better and hopefully bodes well for a closer battle at least with the Red Bulls.”

F1’s new sprint race format will also debut this weekend at Silverstone, something which Hamilton reckons can potentially open up more opportunities to beat Red Bull.

“Another element is this sprint race that we have, this new format," he said. “Of course, it’s easy for any of us to get it wrong but there’s opportunities there, which is exciting.

“I’d like to think… there’s always talk of the energy and the buzz that the fans bring, and without doubt when it’s your home grand prix and the British crowd, you come with more.

“So I’m hoping that all those play together to close that nice gap those guys have grown out in terms of performance, and enables us to take it to them this weekend.”