'Never say never' – Hamilton offers verdict on F1 title chances ahead of Barcelona-Catalunya GP

Lewis Hamilton admits "never say never" with regards to challenging Mercedes for this year's Formula 1 title, with the Briton confident of pushing Ferrari further in the right direction ahead of this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The seven-time World Champion matched his best-ever result for the Scuderia in a Grand Prix last time out in Monaco with P2, repeating the result from the previous round in Canada.

It means Hamilton has taken three podiums in the last five Grands Prix, a stark contrast to least season where he failed to reach the rostrum on a Sunday in 24 attempts.

"I knew we would get to this point at some point," said Hamilton on Thursday's media day ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

"I knew that last year was a building year and I knew that if we acted on the things that I'd asked for we would eventually get to where we're going.

"We still have work to do, we're still not there just yet but the things that I was asking for last year, I've got a car that I've had input into, helped develop, adding things to new ways that we work together. Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal] has been great in collaborating with me and it feels great to be part of that and see progress."

The strong run of form means Hamilton sits second in the Drivers' standings, 66 points behind Kimi Antonelli and two points ahead of his Mercedes team mate, George Russell.

Although Hamilton believes outpacing Mercedes' power unit this season is unlikely, other areas for improvement mean there is a chance Ferrari could begin to challenge the German manufacturer on a more consistent basis.

"In terms of the title, I think we can still out-do people in terms of how we develop the car," he said. "Our car is very good, the downforce package that we have is really good.

"We're going to have to double up, make sure that we're always one step ahead of everyone in terms of advancing so we can go through the corners quicker and catch up the deficit we may lose down the straights.

"We can improve efficiency, so we can maybe improve on drag to try and close that gap in speed. And there's lot of different things happening in these different tracks, so never say never and we're just going to keep pushing and give it absolutely everything."