Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has said that the team’s main priority is qualifying pace. He said that it is all the more important due to the gains that Ferrari has made in recent races.

In 12 races, Hamilton is level with Sebastian Vettel on five poles. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas’ solitary pole gives Mercedes a 6-5 edge over Ferrari.

Despite the advantage, he is of the opinion that if qualifying was dry, Ferrari would’ve had the advantage. Instead, Hamilton led a wet qualifying session and won in a comfortable fashion. It was partially helped by Vettel being stuck behind Bottas in the second stint.

Regarding the race, Hamilton admitted that race pace is their main strength. Now the only thing left is to work to improve in qualifying. He was delighted with five poles from 12 races but he thinks that it could be better.

Hamilton now heads into the summer break with a commanding 24-point lead over Vettel. All this is inspite of being taken out on the first lap in Silverstone. He even started in the midfield in Germany due to a qualifying problem.

Vettel won in Britain but had so many opportunities lost. He crashed out of the lead in Hockenheim when the rain fell. Similarly, he could only manage second at Budapest as the rain played spoilsport again.

He said that he was proud of how the team kept the pace in the last few races. He continued, “To come away with two wins is a testament to the strength in depth of our team.”

Lewis Hamilton is keen to see Mercedes to improve on Saturdays as he has a good conversion rate from pole.

In the pole to victory battle, he has three wins compared to Vettel’s two. In the two races that he was not triumphant, Hamilton was second.