Hamilton full of confidence

Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to getting back on track after the mid-season break © Sutton Images

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Lewis Hamilton says that the performance of the McLaren MP4-26 is "really inspiring confidence at the moment".

Hamilton was within a tenth of pole position in Germany and went on to win the race, while he was in prime position to win the Hungarian Grand Prix before a poor strategy ultimately scuppered his chances. Despite only finishing fourth, Hamilton says the car is competitive and predictable, which allows him to push harder to get more performance out of it.

"I think we go into the race weekend in a pretty good place," Hamilton said. "We've won the last two grands prix and the car feels strong; we've worked hard to improve the set-up, so it's really inspiring confidence at the moment, which means you can push it that little bit further, particularly in qualifying."

With two of the last three races having been rain-affected and wet weather common at Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton admitted he would prefer a dry weekend but was just desperate to get the season restarted.

"Of course, the weekend is likely to be affected by the weather, which is always somewhat unpredictable at Spa. I'd prefer a dry race, but, to be honest, I'll take any track condition: I just can't wait to get back out in my car!"

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