Lewis Hamilton has set his sights on a future three-way F1 title fight with Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso following the trio’s podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix.
It proved a historic win for Verstappen – a 100th for his Red Bull team and a 41st for the Dutchman to put him level with Ayrton Senna in the record books. It was also his fourth straight victory and extended his championship lead to 69 points.
Hamilton enjoyed a tussle with former team-mate Alonso for the runners-up spot, which eventually went the way of the Spaniard.
Following the race, the seven-time world champion said: “It’s just a privilege to be up here fighting these guys, who have done incredible in their careers. This is quite an iconic top three.
“I’m really hoping at some stage we have a more level playing field in our cars and then we’ll have much more exciting races in the future.
“I’m happy to be back in the mix and I’m just hoping at some stage we can be a bit more level so we can get back to some of the good races we had back in 2021. To have all three of us in a super-tight battle would be sick.”
The evidence is that Mercedes and Aston Martin are both closing the gap on the Red Bulls. At the previous race in Spain, Verstappen won by 24 seconds. In Montreal, it was just nine.
And while the margin of victory was slightly skewed by the deployment of the safety car, Verstappen’s pace advantage per lap has clearly diminished thanks to upgrades by Red Bull’s rivals. With a sixth win of 2023, Verstappen is still cantering to a hat-trick of titles.
Following his latest win, he said: “It’s probably not been our best race car today but, still, to win by nine seconds, I think shows that we have a great car. To win the 100th grand prix for the team, that’s incredible.”
