Lewis Hamilton admits F1 wins 'far-fetched' in brutal Ferrari reality check

Lewis Hamilton confessed that securing his first Ferrari Grand Prix triumph this year might be nothing more than wishful thinking. The British driver claimed his inaugural Sprint victory with the Italian outfit earlier this campaign, yet that remains one of few bright spots in what has been a challenging season so far.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion has struggled to settle into his fresh environment and continues to battle with mastering his machinery. The lowest point of the year arrived just ahead of the summer interval, at the Hungarian Grand Prix when the 40 year old branded himself "useless" and hinted the squad would fare better in his absence.

Performances have remained disappointing in recent outings. Hamilton resumed competition at the Dutch Grand Prix but departed Zandvoort empty-handed following a crash during the race.

A week later, a grid penalty hindered his prospects at Monza where he qualified fifth, was demoted to 10th on the starting grid and fought back to claim sixth place, two spots behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

However, Hamilton has appeared in better spirits and more optimistic about the progress he believes both he and the outfit have been achieving. Nevertheless, he acknowledges he still faces considerable ground to make up.

Speaking in Baku before this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he downplayed his prospects of claiming victory before the season concludes. Hamilton said: "A win is a bit far-fetched [in the remaining races] given I have been sixth, seventh and eighth for most of the season. I would love to get a podium for the team at some stage. Charles has had four or five of them.

READ MORE: F1 considering more Sprint races and reverse grids as 2026 calendar confirmed

READ MORE: Lando Norris blasts McLaren critics with 'don't care' comment over F1 team orders row

"I feel optimistic coming into the weekend. I feel like I have found a couple of things, and now I need to work on extracting them. So I really hope that this weekend can be the start of that. I think [the Ferrari has] got more mechanical grip and it is a lot softer than the cars that I have driven here before."

His team-mate Leclerc has never triumphed at Baku previously, though it remains amongst his preferred circuits and has secured pole position on each of his last four visits. But achieving five consecutive poles will prove challenging, the Monegasque reckons

He identified McLaren as "the team to beat" on Saturday. Leclerc continued: "Red Bull in Monza were very impressive with Max [Verstappen], I think they probably found something and brought new things with the car that made them do a big step forward.

"So I think they will also be up there with McLaren. I think we will be behind them. But it is a track that I particularly like and in which I have been performing particularly well in qualifying over one lap. In the race, it is a bit more difficult to hide the true performance of the car, but we will do our best and see what is possible."