Hamilton: Current Mercedes car is 'toughest' yet

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has claimed that the current car being used by Mercedes is the 'toughest' he has ever utilised as the Silver Arrows was forced to amend the chassis to meet the new vehicle requirements for the start of the 2017 season.

In 2017, the campaign saw Mercedes and Ferrari battle it out at the top of the team championship rankings, while Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were the main contenders for the driver's title.

Mercedes went on to win comfortably by 46 points, while Hamilton secured the title with a few Grand Prix races to spare, but the Englishman is not totally happy with how his W08 drives.

“This (car) is the toughest one,” Hamilton told Motorsport.com.

“Some of the issues we’ve had have been with us for years and we are only just realising we need to really do something. New car, being on a wider scale magnifies the issue, I think. A different tyre dynamic, it has been the hardest in that respect.

“2008 [was] a difficult one too. 2009 was horrible. This is a great car, but it has been tricky getting it to work.

“Often to get that extra potential you have to overdrive a little bit, but it’s a fine balance of getting into that region.

“This year people have talked about us having the best car, and for sure it’s been good, but there are some fundamental issues with the car that I’m fighting to overcome.”

Hamilton went on to say that he thinks his understanding of the car overall played a big part in overcoming the changes.

“I feel like in those moments, I’ve been able to extract more than it was willing to do and that’s been positive,” Hamilton continued.

“Often if you go the wrong [set-up] direction you don’t even get to the car’s potential - the car just won’t allow you to squeeze out the extra bit.

“Understanding the car has really allowed me to get the potential, and a little bit more, so even in the races where we’ve struggled we’ve come out with more than we’d hoped.”