With 12 wins in the first 12 rounds, Red Bull is having one of the most dominant F1 seasons of all time. Because of their record and pace, Lewis Hamilton no longer thinks defeating them is realistic. This is partly because the RB-19 was “eight-tenths” faster than Hamilton and Co. in Hungary and coping with the gap is not possible as things stand.
The Milton-Keynes-based team is yet to face defeat this season. They have a 13-race winning streak that is going on from Abu Dhabi last year and has only lost once in the last 23 races across the 2022 and 2023 F1 seasons.
100 ➡️ 1 🏆 We celebrated a century of @F1 wins in 2023 💯 pic.twitter.com/vb94p79PTs
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) August 5, 2023
This level of dominance has been so staggering that Toto Wolff labeled it as a stale show. And now Hamilton is not taking a similar approach to the second half of the season as he did in 2022. This means he is not even looking for a win against Red Bull and Max Verstappen at the moment.
Lewis Hamilton gave up competing against Red Bull
Hamilton has recently opened up about their season and their rival Red Bull. There, the seven-time world champion made it clear that competing against them is out of the question because of how things are going.
Talking about this, the Mercedes star said as per Portuguese media Naspistas, “Right now I’m not sure if we can compete with them in terms of running speed. There were times, like in Hungary, when Max was about eight-tenths a lap faster than everyone else.”
🛞🛞🛞💥 pic.twitter.com/FXuFMMsPPz
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) August 2, 2023
Hamilton’s current stance is far more different how he felt in 2022. Before the start of last season, the Brit was sure that he was going to fight for his eight world championship. Even when Verstappen started dominating races in 2022, Hamilton seemed confident that he could win races.
Red Bull’s massive dominance changed Hamilton’s stance
Despite starting last year on a different note where Mercedes were inferior to Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton was still hopeful for a win. Even when he knew that the RB-18 was superior by far.
Admittedly, they were able to snatch a win in Brazil as well despite the Red Bull’s dominance. However, it was George Russell who nicked in the victory for the Silver Arrows and it has been their only win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP.
In the end, Lewis Hamilton is still hopeful for the best despite knowing they are up against heavy odds. With his “never say never” mindset, the Brit tried to be as optimistic as possible while still being realistic.
