Lewis Hamilton, who has been winless for 35 races, last won a race at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. Ever since then, Verstappen has been the most dominant driver in the sport. With a streak of eight consecutive wins, Verstappen is en route to claiming his third championship title and Hamilton believes that it is impossible to stop the Red Bull driver just by using his driving skills.
The RB19 has been one of the most dominant cars in F1 history, winning all 12 races this season so far. Mercedes last won a race in Brazil in 2022, but since then, has been unable to keep up with Red Bull. Despite a few major upgrades helping the silver arrows bridge the gap to their rivals, it has not been enough to fight for race wins.
📊 Podium Percentage in 2023 so far:
Verstappen – 100%
Perez – 58.33%
Alonso – 50%
Hamilton – 33.33%
Leclerc – 25%
Norris – 16.67%
Ocon – 8.33%
Russell – 8.33%#F1 pic.twitter.com/Ug6cAi0gAM— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 8, 2023
Hamilton did manage to claim the pole position in Hungary after a long time. But it was not enough as the Briton fell down the order to finally finish P4 in the race. The reality is that the Mercedes W14 is a car good enough to fight for P2 in the championship with Ferrari and Aston Martin. This is why, Hamilton believes that it is not possible for him to catch up with Red Bull just by using his driving skills.
Lewis Hamilton presses the need of a better car
According to a recent report by Crash.net, Lewis Hamilton said, “I’m always trying to rely on my driving ability to make up for the deficit, but it’s not been ultimately enough in a lot of places.” He pointed out that the difference in the performance level of the two cars is just too big for him to make up with his driving skills.
Hamilton gave the example of his qualifying lap in the British GP, where he put his car in P7 compared to Verstappen’s pole position. The seven time world champion explained that he was equal on time with Verstappen up until turn 13 after which the car completely lost performance and speed.
Lewis Hamilton insists that Mercedes has moved forward significantly in 2023 due to the upgrades they brought in at Monaco, despite the current gap to RedBull.
Via (Luke)#F1 #Hamilton #Mercedes pic.twitter.com/ZdRJZhl1ui
— GridRivals 🏁 (@GridRivals) August 8, 2023
As for the last race in Belgium, Hamilton qualified P4 and managed to hold position finish the race one place off from the podium. However, it was not all sunflowers for the drivers as both him and Russell had to contend with significant bouncing issues throughout the GP weekend.
Hamilton has his eyes set on the 2024 title
Mercedes are looking forward to developing their car further after the summer break. However, for Hamilton, having a better car for the 2024 season is a much bigger priority than improving the current car.
Hamilton recently said, “I don’t think winning a race this year should be a huge focus, a lot of it should be on making sure we start next year at the front.” The Mercedes driver has made it clear that he still believes that the Silver Arrows will be back at the top of F1, where they belong.
