“He was just so fast,” Lewis Hamilton admits to Max Verstappen and George Russell being ‘too good’ in France

“He was just so fast,” Lewis Hamilton admits to Max Verstappen and George Russell being ‘too good’ in France

Lewis Hamilton(on the left) and Max Verstappen(on the right)

Lewis Hamilton produced his best result of the 2022 Formula One season in Paul Ricard where he was able to finish P2. However, the Mercedes outfit was not able to stay close to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was too quick for the W13.

Mercedes had previously admitted that Red Bull and Ferrari are way ahead of them in terms of development and Lewis Hamilton also got a good taste of it when the race restarted after Zhou Guyanu’s VSC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msf4vexKZz8

During the post-race interviews, the Brit was asked whether he felt like he could get Verstappen at the end of the VSC, and the Brit said, “I was trying to keep up with Max. He was just so fast, I was kind of keeping with him for maybe two laps.”

FS Video

The package that Red Bull has got this season is mega and especially during race sims, it has been super fast. Even Ferrari has sometimes found it difficult to challenge this year’s RB18.

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

The Milton-Keynes-based team has got the ability to simply pull away from the competition and that is what exactly happened when Hamilton tried to hunt down Max Verstappen.

Also Read: French GP: Carlos Sainz clearly emerges as the fastest driver with best sector timings and fastest lap of the race

Lewis Hamilton was not able to get close to Max Verstappen in Paul Ricard

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

Red Bull has got mega pace this season in the straight lines and Hamilton believes that his team is still not at the level of the energy drink team in that department.

While stressing about it, Hamilton said, “So if you’re losing four tenths, whatever it is, three tenths whatever it is on the straight this, there’s nothing you can do about that.”

Moreover, the 37-year-old feels that straight line speed is just one of the worries as Mercedes got other areas to improve in. Lewis Hamilton managed P2 in France and ardently believes that it was the best he could have done.

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

“If I pushed any more maybe I wouldn’t have seen the end of the race at the same position so I had to also keep in mind keeping the car in one piece and keeping the tyres there. This is the best result we could get.” 

Mercedes has managed to keep their good run of form going in Paul Ricard and now with only one race left before the start of the summer break, the Brackley-based team would certainly be looking to sign off in style in Hungary.

Also Read: FIA ‘clears the air’ regarding VSC glitch that cost Sergio Perez a podium finish at French GP