Lewis Hamilton has hit back at former Mercedes engineer Philipp Brandle, who claimed that the seven-time world champion stops giving maximum effort when he doesn’t believe he can win races.

Hamilton ended a gruelling 945-day wait for a Grand Prix victory in front of his home crowd at Silverstone in July, sparking a revival in his form. Since then, the Brit then scored an impressive podium in Hungary and another race win in Belgium.

Mercedes’ return to race-win contention has been at least in part due to Hamilton’s own hard work. During the early stages of the ground effect era, the veteran Brit put in the hard graft, experimenting with set-ups - often at the expense of his own results. He is now reaping the rewards of that success.

Not everyone is impressed though. Speaking to Motorsport-Total ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, Brandle said: “What I think always sets him apart a little, both positively and negatively, is that when he knows he has a chance of winning something, he can drive at 200 per cent.

“But if he has the feeling that the car isn’t running well, that he somehow has no chance of winning the race, then unfortunately he lets himself go a bit, which is a shame. If he sees even the slightest chance, then he drives as well as ever, I think, like no other.”

These comments did not go down well with Hamilton, who hit back: “I’m slowly getting more and more comfortable with the car. I’ve definitely struggled during the year, I read some comment from someone earlier that said that ‘I don’t drive 200 per cent when the car’s not right’, but I’ve been working my butt off all year.

“I’ve been giving everything, and it’s not been good enough, so I’ve just been trying to work at it and get better. And as the car’s progressing, I’m becoming more and more at one with it, and now the results are starting to come, which is a great feeling.

“If we can catch Ferrari in the Constructors’ [Championship], that would be an amazing recovery. If we can move into the top five Drivers’ [Championship] wise, if I can get close to the top three, I think that’d be a good recovery from the difficult season we started.”

Hamilton and Mercedes will have another chance to eat into Ferrari’s advantage when the lights go out on Sunday. The Silver Arrows led FP2 and have a car that is well-suited to the twists and turns of the Zandvoort circuit.