Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes can become the closest challengers to Red Bull in 2023 after his shock second-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton has struggled with the handling of the under-performing W14 this season but turned what had been predicted to be another difficult weekend into a stunning runners-up spot behind race-winner Max Verstappen.
The pace of the Mercedes was all the more remarkable as they have not upgraded a car which Hamilton had declared a nightmare to drive in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The result puts the seven-time world champion in fourth place in the drivers’ standings behind the Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso, who sealed a hat-trick podiums this season for Aston Martin.
And Hamilton said: “I hope this is a message to everyone to dig deep and keep pushing, it is not that far away and it is relatively close to your reach. We can definitely fight the Ferraris and Aston Martin.
“The car has been difficult and for us to be finishing on the podium is really remarkable, especially at this point when we haven’t actually changed the car.”
Mercedes plan to delay any upgrades until next month’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, with the goal being to extract the best possible pace from their current car in the meantime.
Hamilton warned Red Bull, whose rivals believe have not shown their full pace yet this season, were still comfortably in a league of their own. Melbourne was in danger of turning into another procession, the chasing pack closing the gap to Verstappen courtesy of the array of red flags in what proved a chaotic race.
“Clearly we have a lot of work to do to catch Red Bull,” said Hamilton, “because they came flying past and disappeared. But this hopefully gives us real hope and a boost of energy.
“Max is in another league, his car is so fast. Until we pick up speed on the straight… and the crazy downforce they had in the corners, that is how it is going to continue.”
The race was stopped three times, which led to driver criticism. Verstappen said: “I don’t think we needed that second red flag. It could have been dealt with with a virtual safety car. It left a lot of drivers confused.”
Of the first race stoppage, George Russell said: “I thought the first red flag was totally unnecessary”.
Alonso said of the last two red flags: “Stupid rule. How the hell you can put a red flag the lap before the finish?”
