The seven-time world champion, on his 300th F1 start, clai🦄med a strong second place💞 behind Max Verstappen with an impressive drive after Charles Leclerc crashed out of the lead at Paul Ricard. 

Earlier in the weekend, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed he and Hamilton had held🦋 early discussions over the possibility of extending t🐈he 37-year-old’s current contract, which is due to expire at t𓆏he end of 2023. 

Wolff said he thought Ha💫milton could reach the unprecedented milestone of 400 races before he retires from the sport. 

Asked about Wolff’s comments following Sunday’s grand prix, Hamilton responded: “That is a lot of races. Firstly, I want to be grateful to g🌟et to this point. 

“But I still feel fresh, and I still feel as though I have got plenty 𒉰of fu💝el [left] in the tank. I am enjoying the process and arriving everyday and working with this group of people.

“I’m also enjoying working with the sport more than ever. We've got some great people leading the sport and having great conversations about the direction we're going as a sport, so I'm enjoying i𝐆t more than ever. 

“I want to get ba🦋ck to winning ways and that's going to take time, but I'm sure we'll sit down at some stage and talk about the future. 

“But again, just with our team, I always want to continue to b𒀰e building. It’s one thing having races, but it's also continuing the work that we do outside and doing more, which I think Mercedes and us can always do more, and we will.” 

Hamilton was delighted with his and Mercedes’ best result of wꦰhat has be♛en a difficult campaign so far. 

Although Hamilton’s Mercedes lacked the pace to chওallenge Verstappen for the win, he jumped ahead of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull with a great start and was able to hold off the Mexican in the early sꦐtages, before easing clear. 

And the Briton, who is enduring the longest win drought of his entire F1 career, remains confident that Mercedes are getting closer to💙 a first victory of the season. 

“This is my 300th GP and I woke up incredibly grateful for all the people who have been with me,” Hamilton add🌼ed. 

“For Ron Dennis and♌ Mercedes giving me the chance when I was young. Martin Whitmarsh, Mansour Ojj𓃲eh. Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda, Ola Kallenius, Markus Schafer and Dieter Zetsche. All of these incredible people have supported me since I was 13. 

“All of my races have been powered🐲 by Mercedes and I am ve🐎ry proud to be up here representing them.

“We have to kee﷽p pushing and I hope we are getting a little closer. This weekend he [Max] was only 10 seconds up the road, so we are closer. 

“Keeping💝 them [Perez] behind is tough especially with their ♚straight line speed.

“George and I didn’t expect to be second and third, this is a huge day for me and I am taking that pos♉itivity on to Budap꧂est.”

Asked if he is starting to enjoy the s🃏eason a bit more now, Hamilton sai🃏d: “100%. 

“The beginning of ꦰthe year, was – not miserable, it could always be way worse – but from a driver’s perspective understanding this car was so confusing.

“To now be in a position where we're starting to understand the🐎 car a little bit more, it’s given us much more of an enjoyable drive. 

“We still lack performance🌟 in some of those areas but we're slowly getting there. It is about constantly ju🅘st chipping away at it. 

“Unfortunately, you c🥃an't take big leaps at the moment. But who 🧸knows? Maybe one big leap will come at some stage and we’ll be right there.”