Lewis Hamilton makes ‘podium at some point’ Ferrari goal for end of the season

Lewis Hamilton said he is hoping to get a podium in the remaining races of the year and prevent this season from being the first time in his F1 career that he has failed to finish in the top three.

Hamilton has 202 podiums to his name and in every one of his previous 18 seasons, he has made it to the top three at least once but that record looks to be under serious threat.

Lewis Hamilton sets podium goal for season end

While he did win the sprint in China, Hamilton’s wait for a Ferrari podium continues with the Briton recording four P4 finishes so far this year.

With five possible opportunities left, Hamilton said his goal for the rest of the year is to crack the top three and also help Ferrari finish ahead of Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.

“I’d just say consistency,” he told media including PlanetF1.com in Austin when asked for his remaining goals. “Just if I can even get a podium at some point, just finish ahead of the Mercedes is our goal. If I can help the team secure second in the Constructors’ that would be a good end to the year.”

Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari has been a story of frustration with the 105-time race winner often seen to be at odds with the SF-25.

More on Lewis Hamilton from PlanetF1.com

👉 Lewis Hamilton set to miss Mexican GP FP1 as Ferrari WEC driver steps in
👉 Lewis Hamilton baffled by last-lap incident with rival ‘so close to coming past’

A positive for Hamilton is that in recent weeks, that difficulty in getting to grips with the car has gone and he reflected that he was “feeling better” behind the wheel.

“It’s a trend moving forwards, going in the right direction,” Hamilton, who before joining Ferrari had previously only ever driven Mercedes-powered cars. “I’m definitely feeling better in the car, and I’m definitely going to deep dive in these next couple of days, try and figure out how I can extract more performance in the car, get the car in a slightly better place, but overall, pretty decent.”

Hamilton’s race ended in drama as he felt he picked up a puncture, almost allowing Oscar Piastri to close the gap.

“I went into Turn 5, and it felt like I hit something, and all of a sudden, I had massive understeer,” he recalled. “And I thought that I had a puncture, so I braked into Turn 11, the thing wouldn’t stop.

“And I was like ‘geez, what’s going on?’ Somehow, I managed to hold it on in the last couple few corners, I had huge understeer.

“I thought the front wing was broken or that something happened with the tyre, it was so close to Piastri coming past.”

Read next: Fred Vasseur points to mysterious ‘third party’ as Ferrari responds to Horner rumours