Lewis Hamilton insists finishing in the top three of the F1 world championship would still rank as a “huge achievement” for Ferrari despite Kimi Antonelli running away with the individual title.
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton looked right in contention a few months back after claiming his first grand prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona in June. However, in the months since, Antonelli has increased his lead in the championship and is now 81 points clear of Mercedes teammate George Russell and 101 ahead of Hamilton, with nine rounds remaining.
The 41-year-old endured his first retirement of the season after a brake issue at the last race in Madrid and is without a podium finish since Silverstone, six races ago.
"Well, I mean, he's 101 points ahead of me,” said Hamilton ahead of the Azerbaijan GP this Saturday, when asked about his prospects of chasing down Antonelli.
“Just in two races he gained something like 40-odd points on me, and we've been working so hard to gain just a couple of points here and there.
"There is still a long way to go and I think the focus for me is, if we can hold on to second - if not somehow catch Mercedes - for the constructors', I think that would be remarkable.
"There is still a long way to go and I think the focus for me is, if we can hold on to second - if not somehow catch Mercedes - for the constructors', I think that would be remarkable.”
Hamilton’s former teammate Russell, the title favourite at the start of the campaign, is 20 points clear, and Hamilton acknowledged that his individual battle may well be with his compatriot now.
He added: "We've been fighting, we've had wins and podiums, the team have done an incredible job in terms of bringing upgrades, so you really have to acknowledge the good things that we've done this year.
"I know lots of people focus on the negatives. For me, again, if I can battle with George and somehow get ahead of him, which would be very difficult as Mercedes are the leaders... if at the end of the year, managing to stay in the top three, even second, I think would be a huge achievement for us as a team.
"I think there's positives to take out of the last few races, it's just they haven't been, I would say, the best in terms of execution and we've not had the best results.
"But the positives we take forwards and we try and learn from the areas we weren't as good. I believe we can make improvements and I think we have. I'm excited for this weekend."
