“Silverstone won’t be Lewis Hamilton’s last Grand Prix win”: Former F1 champion feels Mercedes and 104-time GP winner will win more races

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve expects Lewis Hamilton to win more races in his final season with Mercedes. The 39-year-old marked his record-extending 104th race win during the British GP earlier this month.

Silverstone was the first time Lewis Hamilton won a race in Formula 1 since the Saudi Arabian GP in 2021. This winless streak was a result of Mercedes' poor adaption to the 2022 aerodynamic regulations which saw Red Bull establish dominance over the grid. However, with the latter not being in a dominant state anymore, it has given other teams an opportunity to get back into the contention for race wins.

Although Mercedes looked to be in their worst position in a decade, they were able to make up for the loss in performance and have made enough progress to win races. Following George Russell's unexpected win in Austria, Lewis Hamilton drove himself to victory at Silverstone. Although this was his first win in almost two years, former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve said he feels he will win more races.

"Most of the season, it’s looked like [Lewis] Hamilton was accepting defeat to George Russell, which is weird," Villeneuve told TG Casino (via GrandPrix247). "At Silverstone, his killer instinct was back and he made the difference in the rain. That’s the champion we know, he knows how to take hold of an occasion."

He then explained that Lewis Hamilton is more comfortable driving "this version" of the W15.

"Silverstone won’t be Hamilton’s last Grand Prix win. He still has the fire in his belly to perform. Also, the Mercedes has become very quick," he added.

"We will probably see another win for Hamilton this year. Somehow, Mercedes followed the same trajectory as the McLaren. He knows how to drive this version of the car, and he showed that in the last race."

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Lewis Hamilton expecting more battles at the front with Mercedes later in the season

The 2024 Formula 1 season is set to be Lewis Hamilton's final season with Mercedes as he prepares himself for his grand move to the Italian crew; Ferrari. This was labeled as one of the biggest moves in the history of the sport.

While Mercedes looked to be way out of the fight when this move was announced, they have now seemingly put themselves in a position to battle with the top teams again. After the British Grand Prix victory, Lewis Hamilton sounded confident as well. He claimed that even though the car is not the fastest on the grid, later developments in the season will help them battle at the front.

"There’s still a long, long way to go,” he said when asked about the possibility of improvement in the W15. "The car, by no means, is the quickest car on the grid right now."

"I think we are super close and I think hopefully with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front row more consistently," RaceFans quoted him as saying.

The 2024 season has turned out to be one of the most competitive ones that F1 has witnessed over the past couple of years. Six different drivers have already won a race within the first 12 rounds of the season. This is a major improvement, given that only 5 different drivers won races throughout the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined.