Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes could benefit from possible penalties facing Red Bull, Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton has raised the prospect of ending the leanest spell of his Formula 1 career by winning Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

The second half of the season starts in Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, kicking off a run of nine races in a dozen weeks.

Hamilton is 112 points behind runaway championship leader Max Verstappen following a poor start to the season for the seven-time world champion and his Mercedes-AMG team.

But the British driver headed into the summer shutdown off the back of five consecutive podiums, including back-to-back runner-up finishes at the most recent rounds in France and Hungary.

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Double podium in our 250th GP together! ?? Not bad going, @PET_Motorsports ???? pic.twitter.com/mSqgmCESez

Hope for a win

Hamilton's hopes of ending his 14-race losing streak could also be aided here if Red Bull's Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz elect to take on new engines, demoting them to the back of the grid.

And asked if he feels he is getting closer to a win, Hamilton, 37, said: "I definitely do. We have been improving, and we have become consistent in recent races. The team is pulling together, making great progress, and we are continuing to push.

"The car has become more of a racing car, and not what it was at the beginning of the year. That is positive, and the last race [where Hamilton's teammate George Russell finished third] was the best showing that we have had so far.

"That was a huge boost that we can close that gap. It will be tough, but we will keep our heads down. The others are doing an amazing job, but I do believe we can close the gap."

Reunited with W13 this weekend. ??