Lewis Hamilton believes it is well within Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s compass to see out the rest of the 2023 Formula One season undefeated. The British driver, speaking before F1 resumes after the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, nonetheless said he remains optimistic that he and his Mercedes team might yet steal a victory this year.
Verstappen goes into his home race, which he has won for the last two years, with an all but unassailable lead in the world championship. He is 125 points in front of teammate Sergio Pérez after 12 meetings. With eight wins in a row, another victory in Zandvoort would draw him level with Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine in a row which was set in 2013. Red Bull, utterly dominant, remain unbeaten this season with 10 races remaining.
Hamilton, fourth in the world championship behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, acknowledged that Verstappen and his team were in imperious form.
“There is a high chance that he’ll win every race,” Hamilton said. “But we’re hopeful that we can challenge them at some point, whether it’s this weekend or who knows where. If there are any mistakes, any mishaps, we’ll be right there to try and capitalise on them. They don’t really make them, or he hasn’t made any, and the team hasn’t made any this year. So they might win everything. Hopefully later on in the year, we’ll get closer maybe.”
Hamilton also noted that, given Red Bull’s advantage, they will have already started development of next year’s car giving them a march on the rest of the field for next season. The Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc echoed Hamilton’s opinion and issued a warning that he believed Red Bull now might not be challenged until the next major regulation change in 2026.
“We’re trying to work towards [catching Red Bull] but they have a really big margin and it’s going to be very difficult to catch them before the change of regulations,” he said.
Mercedes are currently second in the constructors’ championship but in a tight fight with Aston Martin and Ferrari for the place. After a slow start to the season when they were off the pace, Hamilton, who is 41 points behind Pérez, believes the turnaround the team has wrought has not been fully appreciated.
“It’s a huge achievement and I think it’s something that I feel has been a little bit overlooked, if I’m really honest,” he said. “Because we want to win there hasn’t been the most positive narrative but I’m really proud of the team. For us to be second in the constructors’ championship, considering how others have started this year, like how McLaren are doing with their big turnaround, Aston who came out of the blocks really great, I think it’s pretty amazing.
“That’s down to all these amazing people back at the factory and the crew that we have here. Also the driver’s not doing a bad job … My goal is to try and make sure the team keep that second place in the championship, and try and hunt down second in the drivers’ championship.”
