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Hamilton: "Red Bull Fastest At The Moment"

19:37, 14 Mar 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has claimed that as of right now, Red Bull probably have the fastest car on the grid.

Hamilton said this at an event for Mercedes' main sponsor (and fuel partner) Petronas in Italy. The Brit, who remains the bookmakers' favourite to win the title this year.

"At this moment, I think Red Bull are the fastest potentially," the four-time champ said.

"They have some kind of upgrade that will be pretty significant I heard, it should improve their car by two to four decimals [of a second] per lap."

Pre-season saw Ferrari coming out on top in terms of one-lap pace, but after gps-data analysis, it became clear that the Mercedes W09 is still the fastest over the distance of a full race, and the same data suggests that Red Bull were the closest to the Silver Arrows.

This may be why Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that Mercedes will still be the favourites to regain their title in both championships.

"This year is going to be more exciting," Hamilton continued. "Because last year the teams started with quite a big difference in performance, and grew closer over the course of the season."

"But this year it starts close, maybe it overlaps, it seperates, and then overlaps during the year, as people and their cars develop more."