Hamilton expects challenging battle with Red Bull Racing
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Although Valtteri Bottas is far behind Lewis Hamilton in terms of points, the Finn is often close to his teammate when it comes to qualifying. According to Lewis Hamilton, Bottas makes it so Hamilton always has to perform.
On Saturday Hamilton took his 92nd pole position in Formula 1. The Brit is very strong on Saturdays, but that doesn't mean he won't be bothered by the competition. If there's a day when Bottas is competing with his teammate, it's often Saturday.
Hamilton has noticed that too. "My first lap in Q3 was strong, but I had the feeling I could do an even faster lap. That just didn't work out. Luckily the strong guy next to me didn't either", the six-time world champion said at the press conference after qualifying, with the Brit pointing to Bottas. "He's keeping me honest and it's clear we're very close, so every millisecond counts."
Fighting with Verstappen
However, the Mercedes driver won't just look at his team mate when it comes to the race. "It's going to be tricky when we look at the race, then suddenly the scenario is very different. We'll have the advantage over Red Bull Racing in a single lap, but this weekend we seem to be pretty much on race pace, so it's going to be a tough fight with Max tomorrow", concludes Hamilton.