SPIELBERG, Austria, June 25 (Reuters) - Lewis ⁠Hamilton said the opportunity exists for him to win a record eighth Formula ⁠One title and he knows what to do.

The 41-year-old Briton is on a ‌roll after taking his first win with Ferrari in Spain this month, following two successive second-place finishes, and is second in the championship to Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli.

The 41-point gap is still significant but Hamilton, Formula One's ​most successful driver who won six of his titles ⁠with Mercedes, was not ruling out ⁠anything.

"I think the opportunity is there but it’s one thing being there and it’s another ⁠thing ‌galvanising the troops and developing," he told reporters on Thursday.

"You can hit plateaux in terms of development, so all we can do is take it one ⁠day at a time and all we can do is ​really continue to bring ‌everything."

Ferrari have their first engine upgrade of the season for the eighth round ⁠in Austria this ​weekend, a development which could help to reduce the gap at the top.

"It’s a step, not the whole gap, but it’s a step. It’s one foot forwards, which I’m really proud and thankful ⁠for," said Hamilton, whose previous employers have won ​the first six races of the campaign and started all seven grands prix on pole position.

"Mercedes are the team to beat... they’ve been just incredible this year; a great car, an ⁠amazing team, a world championship team.

"So, we have a real battle on our hands, and it’s going to take everyone for the rest of the year to even come close to competing with them but I don’t think it’s impossible.”

Hamilton, whose first title was with ​McLaren in 2008 and last with Mercedes in 2020, said ⁠experience would also play a part.

"In terms of the championship... I’ve been here before. I ​know what I have to do and there’s a ‌long way to go," he said.

"We’re not arriving ​at this weekend thinking about the championship, we’re thinking about this weekend, executing the best we can."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; editing by Clare Fallon)