Continued improvement which has seen the world champions score consecutive double podiums, leaves Hamilton confident that wins will follow.

Emerging from the summer break, having scored successive double podiums in France and Hungary, the nightmare of Azerbaijan, and so many more, must seem a lifetime ago.

As early as pre-season testing it was clear Mercedes had a problem, but little by little the German team has worked to resolve its issues.

Indeed, whilst Red Bull enjoys a commanding lead in the championships, Mercedes is slowly catching up with Ferrari, though in al honesty the Italian outfit hasn't made things easy for itself.

Yet to score a win, seven time champion Hamilton, who has won at least one race since he first entered F1 in 2007, when asked if he is confident of making it to the top step of the podium in the remaining 9 races, replied: "I do, definitely.

"Of course we've been improving," he continued, "we've had this consistency that's come up in the recent races and great progress the team is making, everyone pulling together and continuing to push.

"And the car's becoming more of a racing car," he added, "which is not particularly what it was at the start of the year, more like a normal racing car in the sense of its characteristics.

"The last race was the best showing that we've had so far, and that for us was a huge boost that we can close that gap. Naturally it's going to continue to be tough, we will keep our heads down. The other guys are doing an amazing job, but I do believe we can close the gap."

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