Lewis Hamilton fears Red Bull will dominate the Formula 1 world for "years" if his Mercedes team cannot adapt better to the car regulations.
The defending champions already look certain to secure back-to-back constructors' championship successes this year. Records were broken by Red Bull and Max Verstappen on the way to the 2022 titles, and they could smash them again this term if the first five races are a sign of things to come.
The Milton Keynes outfit has won all five, with Verstappen taking victory in three while Sergio Perez has snatched the other two. Red Bull already have a 122-point advantage over their nearest competitor and, given their car performance is still streets ahead, it is a gap that is likely only to increase.
Red Bull's rise has coincided with Mercedes regression. The Silver Arrows were slow to adapt to the new car regulations which came into force in 2022 and have been playing catch-up ever since, much to Hamilton's frustration.
And given how uncompetitive the title race is again this year, and the general consensus that the past couple of races have been largely dull affairs, have led to some criticism of F1. Hamilton said he can see why some have lost interest.
"It's not my job to convince people to watch a sport. I'm not watching so it's not boring for me," he said. "But as a fan watching, I can understand because it's not as competitive as maybe the NFL or the NBA at the moment. As a sport, it has tried to bring the teams closer but it never seems to work."
But, echoing what his team boss Toto Wolff has said on many occasions, Hamilton believes the responsibility is on his team to reel in Red Bull rather than simply changing the rules to curb the leaders' advantage.
He added: "All I can say is that we're working as hard as we can to close up and get back and give them more of a fight. It's just unfortunate that we still see the same sort of gaps between the teams."
And he warned that, if his team fails to make significant strides, it may well be a long time before Mercedes can give Red Bull a proper fight. The Brit said: "I don't know what the solution is for the future, but we are going to have to adapt to these regulations. Otherwise it could be the same as it is now for years."
