Hamilton names highlight from 2023 F1 campaign

Lewis Hamilton has labelled his pole position lap at the HungarianGrand Prix as his highlight of this year's Formula 1 campaign.Hamilton endured his second consecutive winless season with hismost recent F1 victory coming at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.Mercedes has slipped back in the pecking order since the start of2022 when new technical regulations came into play, while rivalsRed Bull have dominated the field. Hamilton's pole position inBudapest earlier this year marks the only time in the last twoseasons that the seven-time World Champion has topped a qualifyingsession. With team-mate George Russell failing to progress past Q1,Hamilton ousted Max Verstappen by 0.003s to secure pole position atthe Hungaroring. “I think obviously Budapest was the highlight, atrack that I love and somehow dethrone the Red Bull for a singlemoment gave us a lot of hope,” Hamilton told media includingRacingNews365.com . “And that knowing that if we just keep pushingwe may get there.” Hamilton hails Mercedes resilience While thisyear marked another difficult campaign for Mercedes who finishedrunner-up in the Constructors' Championship, Hamilton hailed theteam's spirit. “There are ups and downs within all seasons,” hesaid. “From the moment we started driving the car at Silverstoneand realising that we're probably not [going to] be fighting for achampionship to then just refocusing and resetting your goals andthen working towards catching up. “I think it's just reallypleasing to see that we never gave up, no one in the team gave up.“Everyone stayed positive, just how everyone showed up was superencouraging for me. “We were always learning more about justappreciating the moment, appreciating each and every singleindividual in the team. “Those results we're getting, when wefinally got a podium, we appreciated it perhaps more than everbefore.”