F1 Australian GP: “We can close the gap,” Lewis Hamilton sends warning to Max Verstappen and Red Bull after P2 finish

Lewis Hamilton was encouraged by his P2 finish at the F1 Australian GP, and thinks that it is not 'impossible' for Mercedes to close the gap to Red Bull.

F1 Australian GP: “We can close the gap,” Lewis Hamilton sends warning to Max Verstappen and Red Bull after P2 finish

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton (L) | Red Bull's Max Verstappen (R)

Lewis Hamilton got his first podium of the season today, at the Australian GP. For just a little while, it even looked as if he might challenge Max Verstappen for the win, after a chaotic start. His teammate, George Russell had passed Verstappen for the lead, and Hamilton did the same. He ran close to his teammate, until the first safety car came out. At the restart too, he was close to Russell. Then the second safety car came out due to Alex Albon’s crash, and Russell pitted from the lead.

But the session was soon red-flagged, and this gave Hamilton the lead on the restart. Unfortunately, he was soon pipped by Verstappen, who then stretched his advantage. His teammate also retired with a mechanical failure on lap 18. It was mostly business as usual afterward, with Hamilton just able to keep Fernando Alonso behind. There was a lot of drama at the end with the final two safety car restarts, but it made no difference in Hamilton’s finishing position.

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When put to him by David Coulthard that it was a “crazy race”, the seven-time world champion agreed: “It was. I’ve gotta say a huge thank you to everyone in Australia and Melbourne for having me. I’ve had the best week here, the weather’s been amazing today, and this town just continues to put on a great show. It was really unlucky for George [Russell] today, we’ve gotta look into that on our side. Our reliability’s generally been really good, so that’s really unfortunate.”

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He added: “But otherwise, to get those points, it’s really amazing today. I definitely didn’t expect to be second, so I’m super grateful for it.” When put to him that despite his complaints that he felt ‘disconnected with the car’, the pace looked good, Hamilton replied: “Yeah, I still feel uncomfortable in the car though. I don’t feel connected to the [car]. So, I’m driving as best as I can with that disconnected, and working as hard as I can to create that connect. But I think it’s a long project.”

Read More: F1 Australian GP: “I’m being attacked by my own teammate,” George Russell blasts Mercedes for being told to ‘manage’ when Lewis Hamilton’s on his tail

Lewis Hamilton: Going to be tough to close up to Red Bull, but not impossible

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes are devising a new car concept, which they hope will be a winner. They’ve lamented about it a lot, but in all fairness, the car didn’t look so bad. Even in Jeddah, it looked good. It has pace, though obviously, it can’t compare with Red Bull. That’s the goal, and Mercedes want to win – not fight for P2. Considering their performance relative to the others, this is a very good result for Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-time world champion continued: “But still, considering we’re down on performance, [and] we’re clearly down on end-of-straight pace compared to the Red Bulls, for us to be up here fighting with Aston [Martin], it’s just amazing at this point of the season. And we’ve just gotta keep on fighting. Big, big thank you to all the people at the factory, let’s keep pushing. We can close that gap [to Red Bull] – it’s going to be tough, but not impossible.”

When asked if his tire complaints at the start of the race was him ‘bluffing’, the Briton said: “No, no, no, I definitely wasn’t bluffing. I mean, honestly, I was having to push a lot right at the beginning to keep Max [Verstappen] behind, and then Fernando [Alonso] was pushing, and they were very very quick. Ultimately, I think he was a little bit quicker today behind me, but I just managed to hold him off.”

The next race is the Azerbaijan GP at the end of April. Mercedes’ upgrades won’t arrive there, but they are expected to be ready for the Emilia-Romagna GP, some three weeks after Azerbaijan. They will hope that those upgrades can close the gap to Red Bull. But at that stage of the season, them winning the championship begins to look unlikely. Even now, it seems like Red Bull may run away with it.

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