Hamilton: 'I don't think Verstappen has broken a sweat all year'

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Hamilton sees Verstappen 'chilling at the front' in F1
11 December 2023 at 14:00
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  • GPblog.com

Lewis Hamilton does not expect Mercedes to simply be able to catch up with Red Bull Racing in the 2024 Formula 1 season. For that, he saw Max Verstappen 'chill at the front' too often during his dominant year, in which he was crowned world champion for the third time in a row.

Red Bull's dominance is familiar to Hamilton. He went through a similar period during his time at Mercedes, which became world champion multiple times. The 38-year-old Briton himself won six world titles with the team. His winning run was only interrupted by his then-teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016, after which Verstappen took over in 2021.

"You watch the Red Bull, and it does everything well. It looks very similar to my 2020 car, characteristic-wise. Super-stable. They are firing on all cylinders. It looks like it’s in that kind of window, like we used to have, which for a driver is a dream because then you can really extract your own personal abilities to the max," Hamilton explained to The Race.

He himself cannot name a moment in which he really managed to challenge Verstappen last season. "I don’t think we have ever really truly pushed them… maybe Austin we were the closest but even then I think they still always had a tenth or two on us at the bare minimum."

Hamilton: 'Verstappen hasn't broken a sweat all year'

According to Hamilton, Verstappen has not had a really tough time at any point this year. "You go through lap times and some of the data from Max, and you can see he is chilling at the front more often than not. I don’t think he has broken a sweat during the year," the Mercedes driver continued.

"I think he was just able to control it and when you are in that position when you have performance and can back off, the tyres go longer and you are in a sweet spot and it’s amazing to be in that place," Hamilton said.