Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were euphoric after their qualifying session on Saturday at the Hungaroring, which saw the seven-time world champion get his 104th career pole position. After managing to finish P1, however, Hamilton decided to take a slight dig at Red Bull and question the legality of their previously dominant DRS.
The first ten Grand Prix weekends of the 2023 season were dominated by Red Bull. Max Verstappen won eight races, with his teammate Sergio Perez taking home two wins. One of the things that they excelled at was their DRS, which gave them a blisteringly quick straight-line speed. Other teams and drivers often failed to catch up with it.
No explanation necessary. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/40a0Y1A0Ja
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 22, 2023
In Hungary this weekend, however, Red Bull’s DRS did not quite look as unstoppable. Hamilton managed to get the better of Verstappen by 0.003 seconds, but it was enough for the Brit to slander the DRS advantage that his rivals had in the past. Another inference from Hamilton’s interview with Sky Sports pointed towards the fact that he wants the journalists to question Red Bull’s DRS, which he believes was illegal.
Lewis Hamilton wants journalists to expose Red Bull cheating?
Red Bull is still one of the heavy favorites to win Sunday’s Hungarian GP. Even though Lando Norris of McLaren starts P3 and Hamilton starts in the pole ahead of Verstappen, Red Bull is fairly bullish about their chances. That didn’t stop Hamilton from making comments on Red Bull’s dominance in the previous races.
One of the things Hamilton spoke about in his interview was Red Bull’s DRS and how it helped them comprehensively outperform their rivals. However, according to Sky Sports’ analyst Ted Kravitz, Hamilton wants the media to ask questions about Red Bull’s sudden drop in pace, because he wants the light to fall on their car, and the legality surrounding it.
Ted Kravitz says Lewis’ interview with Sky employing the media to ask questions about where Red Bull’s pace has gone, is his request to the media to check where has “Red Bull’s super duper DRS pace gone”
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) July 22, 2023
Some fans on Twitter feel that Hamilton wants the journalists to expose the fact that Verstappen and Co. are cheating. “He is implying that the superstrong DRS effect that red bull had, had been outlawed or was cheating or something and that Lewis wants people (journalists) to find out about it,” SaintLewis44 wrote.
Red Bull’s sudden drop in pace
It is fair to say that Red Bull aren’t dominating races as easily as easily as they were towards the start of the season. The recent upgrades brought by McLaren and even Mercedes have made them somewhat uncomfortable. In Silverstone, Norris and Oscar Piastri made Verstappen’s life extremely difficult, and in the end, only a 10 second gap separated the Dutchman from P2.
This carried onto the Hungarian GP weekend, where it was evident that Verstappen wasn’t feeling great with the car. He still performed better than many other teams could only hope, but missing out on the pole position was a huge shocker indeed.
Some experts predicted that Red Bull’s cost cap penalty’s effects could be visible as the season progressed. Now that other teams are slowly but surely closing the gap, an end to the Red Bull dominance could very well be on the horizon.
