Lewis Hamilton welcomes the prospect of a Formula 1 title fight with Max Verstappen after the Dutchman’s dramatic victory in the hot 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.
Defending champion and current leader Hamilton, who has a lead of 30 points at the top of the drivers’ standings, praised Verstappen and his Red Bull team for their first defeat against Mercedes in five races this year.
“It’s great that Max won,” said Hamilton after his 155th podium finish in second place.
“As I said before, I want to race and have a challenge. Of course the Red Bull seems pretty close to us in race conditions, but that’s a good thing and it will be interesting to see their progress as the year progresses.
“I will definitely not overlook them. We will watch them closely. It will by no means be easy.”
Hamilton, who shares the podium record with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, is aiming for his own seventh driver’s title this year and also has the unsurpassed performance of the German of 91 GP victories in his sights.
“Difficult day” for Mercedes
In the sultry conditions on Sunday, however, Red Bull not only had a superior strategy – by starting Verstappen on hard compound tires – but also a superior level of tire wear management, which appears to have become a weakness for Mercedes. otherwise immaculate car this year.
Hamilton had only won the British GP on the same track a week earlier after surviving a puncture on the final lap when Verstappen got closer.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted that after starting with Valtteri Bottas on pole and Hamilton as second in the 67th lockout in the front row, his team was not successful.
Verstappen started fourth and won by 11 seconds, a luxury that earned him several lighthearted jokes on his way to victory and was a bad sign for Mercedes at the GP in Spain at the weekend in Barcelona.
“It was a difficult day in the office,” admitted Wolff. “We have a handful of days to find out what exactly caused our problems today, find solutions, test them in Barcelona and then hopefully have a better race on Sunday.”
“It’s going to be a challenge, but we had those days in the past and came out stronger. I’m really looking forward to Barcelona. The days we lose are the days we learn the most.”
The somewhat enchanted glances at the Mercedes pit wall when their Pirelli tires kept blistering and telling their own story again, and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that their car, with its phenomenal downforce, was almost too strong and too fast for that introduced softer tires.
“Mercedes has more downforce on its car, a lot more wings than we do and they covered their laps with bubbles five laps after the first pit stop – and Max left it at that point,” said Horner.
By Sunday, Hamilton and Mercedes appeared to be on a smooth run towards more championship triumphs, but Verstappen’s ninth career win, a week before he returns to the scene of his first, has signaled that nothing can be taken for granted.
The post Lewis Hamilton welcomes Max Verstappen’s title fight as Red Bull Racing Rise to The Challenge first appeared on monter-une-startup.
