Hamilton plans on 'completing every lap'

Lewis Hamilton wants Mercedes to achieve perfect reliability this season by 'completing every lap' as the Silver Arrows attempt to win their fifth constructor's world championship in a row whilst also providing Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas a platform to compete for the driver's title also.

The Brit is a four-time world champion which puts him three titles behind record champion, Michael Schumacher. He currently has Juan Manuel Fangio's five titles in his sights, and could potentially move up to second in the all-time list with a world title win in 2018.

Mercedes' engine was pretty much flawless last season, and Hamilton is hoping for more of the same this time around, and wants to complete every lap.

“We plan on completing every lap, that’s our goal,” Hamilton told GPUpdate.

“Of course it’s going to be harder for us to do that, but that’s what we plan to do. have every faith and belief in the team they can do that.

“It’s a huge, huge task and perhaps [2017] is a golden year for us, but no reason for us [not to repeat it].”

Hamilton could be in for a tougher season in 2018 with Ferrari and Red Bull set to provide stiff competition once again, while McLaren are likely to improve with their new Renault engines after three tough years with unreliable Honda parts.

Fernando Alonso is with McLaren, and took time out this week to name the two drivers, apart from himself who he would like to see defeat Hamilton in the championship.

When asked by AS who he wants to win, Alonso said:

“[Stoffell] Vandoorne.”

Asked for another driver not in his team, he said: “Carlos [Sainz], obviously.”

Finally, when asked about a driver who is not in his team and not a compatriot, he stayed on the fence with his answer.

“I don’t know, I don’t have any preference,” he confesed.