Lewis Hamilton has warned Max Verstappen that Mercedes have "something in the pipeline" after the Silver Arrows secured a double podium in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen has stormed to the top of the drivers' standings this season having won five of the first seven races. Mercedes have struggled in recent seasons, having dominated F1 between 2014 and 2020, though are now on their way back to success.
Hamilton secured the fastest lap in last week's Monaco Grand Prix before finishing second to Verstappen at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. The Silver Arrows brought upgrades to the Barcelona track and Hamilton hinted that Verstappen should start to look over his shoulder.
"With the current car that we have, I don’t think we’ll be matching their performance but we’re working on improving the car. So, with the current package we’re limited to the pace that we had today," Hamilton said after the race.
"But I think there’s a huge amount of work and studying and improvement that we hopefully will have coming in the future. Naturally, they should also be progressing through the year, so we need to be taking big chunks out of them with every step we take.
"I think today they were a good few tenths ahead of us. Maybe half a second ahead of us per lap – and on a single lap, that’s a little bit bigger – but I think we’re going in the right direction and I know we have something in the pipeline moving forward."
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While he has hopes that Mercedes can be challenging for wins by the end of the year, Hamilton conceded a large part of his focus is on next season. The Englishman insisted that Mercedes cannot afford to fall behind in devolpment of next year's car.
"I’m hoping that at least by the end of the year, maybe we can could challenge them. I’m more focused on making sure next year we have the car to challenge them from day one," Hamilton added.
"And the further we continue to push this car this year, the more that impacts next year also, in some ways. But the more we learn about this car also, that also sets us in the right direction. It’s trying to find the right balance.
"They’re so far ahead and ultimately Max will continue to win this year – but that means they can start on their development for next year sooner, earlier than anyone else if they haven’t already – and that’s the danger. So, we’ve just got to keep working hard but also try to get the right balance."
For his part, Verstappen admitted that Mercedes are emerging as a force to be reckoned with. But he insisted that Red Bull had to keep their title bid on track by staying focused on the task at hand.
"I think they had a very strong race, to be honest. I think they are improving but from our side, it’s not about being worried. We just have to focus on ourselves, trying to keep on improving the car," he said.
"At the moment it all looks great but you can’t stand still in this world. We just keep trying to find things on the car, try to learn – like today understand why the Hard wasn’t working with the car. And yeah, we’ll see what happens in the coming races."
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