Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are getting closer. After a 2022 in which the Englishman had to contend with a car with many problems, away from Red Bull, and after the massive development of the star in his car in 2023, the Briton is finally starting to see the light of the tunnel.
The 7-time world champion, after the evolution shown by those from Brackley in Austin two races ago, now has a car that should help him continue to fight to be the second best car on the grid in the final three races of 2023 with McLaren, with Ferrari close behind. He has to make the last leap, the hardest, the definitive one, in 2024, to chase down the great dominators and rekindle his rivalry for the title with Max Verstappen.
To those chasing Red Bull, the stars seem to offer more confidence and guarantees for next season to challenge those from Milton Keynes. And new, in these three final rounds, many see the next Brazilian GP as a great opportunity for Lewis to win a race again and achieve his first victory since the 2021 Saudi Arabia GP.
Lewis Hamilton, after recovering from 6th to 2nd in Mexico, denied that he may have options in Interlagos or in the two remaining events of 2023. But facing 2024, he is more optimistic.
“I’m ready. If we can get a car that can match them, we’ll have good fights next year,” he said of the possibility of Max and Red Bull fighting in 2024. “I know we can make a great car . We haven’t done it in the last two years. But we can do it,” he highlighted, aware however that Red Bull will continue to progress.
“I don’t think we have a chance”
“An opportunity? I don’t think so, personally. They are very fast… faster than us. Their car is fantastic and they deserve it,” he noted on ‘DAZN F1’. And Lewis believes that the his car in many respects, one of which is its top speed in a straight line.
“This weekend, we were very slow on the straight. In general, we’re pretty slow on the straights, usually, but this weekend, like yesterday, we lost two and a half tenths in turn 1 before even starting to brake ,” Lewis said at a press conference.
“The exits are like this. The qualy, like that. But we had a good race pace. We were fine in the beginning, clean. It was difficult to overtake because we were slow on the straight, but overall, the second part of the race was particularly strong,” he added to ‘DAZN F1’.
Mercedes has a good race car, but it must be stronger in qualifying to put the pressure on Verstappen from above, from the beginning of the race. Something like this happened to Aston Martin at the beginning of the course, due to qualifying its car was not very competitive. And the opposite happens with Ferrari, who have a very fast car in a turn that is not very fast in the race. On the other hand, Verstappen has a fast car on all kinds of tracks, except in Singapore, where he was not able to be as competitive.
Interlagos options
For his part, the boss of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, who considers that the speed of the race of Austin Hamilton can give him the victory, does not believe that in Mexico it is possible to win starting higher. “We are very slow on the straight, so against the Red Bulls it is difficult. Your package is very rounded. They are fast on the curves and on the straight,” Wolff said on ‘DAZN F1’. Although when asked about the next Brazilian GP, the Austrian couldn’t stop smiling.Interlagos? I don’t want to set expectations to win. We did this last year. It went well for us and we will see it next week.”
It should be remembered that in Austin, after hitting the back of Verstappen, Hamilton was surprised by the many strong points of the Milton Keynes car.
“I think the only time it’s likely to be at their level is at low speeds. In general, our car has been good at low speeds for the last few years. But the higher you go, the higher the speed. “It is the difference between them. That’s why they’re so fast on tracks like Suzuka.”
“It’s a good experience following him (Verstappen), because you can see firsthand where his car is strongest. It’s like they start to get power earlier than most of us. The car moves less, the tire broke in the back. was much, much easier to manage. I was in that position then, where I had a more stable rear end,” Lewis argued last week in Austin.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
