Hamilton, who currently sits 32 points behind Verstappen in his bid to become an eight-time world champion, has recently admitted he’s been spending more time in the simulator, to try and close the gap on Red Bull this season.

And the 36-year-old said he’s pleased to see the hard work paying off.

“I was in the factory, on the same on, on Tuesday. And again, as I said we had this morning free and I was like, Look, I’m not gonna sit around and waste time, let’s get to it.

“So we did a practice session this morning on there, and also just trying to develop it trying to give the guys as much information as possible so as we’re developing the car.

“We’re squeezing absolutely everything, every ounce of performance from this thing, it was holding together today so I’m over the moon.