Lewis Hamilton on ‘dream’ to take Mercedes back 

Lewis Hamilton has described it as being “the greatest honour” if he was able to help take Mercedes back to the top of Formula 1 in his final season at the team before moving to Ferrari.

Speaking in an interview released by Mercedes from their Silverstone car launch Hamilton said: “I feel the most motivated and focused I’ve ever been.

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“I mean every year you come back and you’re like ‘I’m fitter than ever’ and all these different things but I genuinely feel I’ve put more work and more time and more focus into preparation this year.

“I never thought that at this point in my life that I would have hunger like I do right now and to finish on a high with this team, it would be a dream.

“We’ve gone through a whole heap together so to finish on a high it would be the greatest honour to be able to help them to get back to the top.

After briefly driving the team’s all-new W15 for the first time in a shakedown at a wet Silverstone after its launch last week, Hamilton’s 12th and final season at Mercedes will begin in earnest this week with three days of pre-season in Bahrain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – live on Sky Sports F1 from 7am each day.

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Hamilton and Mercedes have cemented their places in record books during an astonishing partnership since the Briton joined the team from McLaren in 2013, with the 39-year-old becoming statistically the most successful driver of all time.

But they now enter a 24-race new season with the unusual situation of already knowing they are going their separate ways in 10 months’ time. Ferrari face the same scenario with Carlos Sainz, who Hamilton will replace.

In the latest edition of the Sky Sports F1 podcast after the completion of the car launches, Martin Brundle said: “I have no doubt he will give it absolutely everything he’s got until the last lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi for Mercedes-Benz.

“He will be wearing those overalls, holding that steering wheel, representing 1,500 people. If everybody is smart in that, and I think they are all very smart people, and they have had such a wonderful relationship together, I think they will see it as a farewell tour