Lewis Hamilton admits his chance of finishing as championship runner-up ‘largely dependent’ on Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez’s deteriorating performance could open up a window for 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to overtake him in points in the Driver’s Championship.
Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez (Via IMAGO)
Sergio Perez had a dream start to the 2023 season that saw him win two races and the Azerbaijan GP sprint race win. Though he experienced a dip in form compared to his teammate Max Verstappen after the first major update to Red Bull Rb-17, he was still consistently making it to the podiums. But since the mid-season break, he has been mediocre. Even finishing inside the top five became a struggle.
Red Bull has won 16 out of the 17 races this year, but the disappointing thing for Perez is that 13 of those wins are from Verstappen. As the season progresses, he is finding it much harder to qualify well and score points. He has scored just five points in the last three races. He is getting close to losing his driver championship P2 to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton had been consistently scoring points till the Qatar GP last Sunday when he had an unfortunate crash. He is currently at 194 points, and Perez is at 224 points, which makes the difference between the two racers to be just 30 points. Hamilton has claimed that a potential P2 finish this season still solely depends on Sergio Perez.
Hamilton says that Perez should ‘easily’ have the runner-up spot in the championship. As reported by racingnews365.com, he says, “It’s ultimately largely dependent on Checo’s performance moving forward as he should easily have second.” Hamilton added that Mercedes’ performance so far this season has been something to be proud of. He said, “I’m really proud of where we are, where I’ve managed to get to, I’ve been really proud of the race performances so far.”
Lewis Hamilton opened up about consumer championship fight with Ferrai
Although Mercedes has consistently scored points in recent races, they seem to make mistakes that make them lose points unnecessarily. George Russell went into the barrier at the Singapore GP, and Hamilton crashed into Russell at the Qatar GP. These mistakes can cost them more than they could think.
Ferrari is currently sitting in the third spot with 298 points, and while Mercedes is at 326, the difference is just of 28 points. Ferrari even lost out on some points in the recent Qatar GP due to Carlos Sainz being unable to partake in the race. Ferrari could seriously challenge Mercedes if they make some mistakes.
Hamilton, however, says that he wants to do better, and speaking on finishing in the runner-up position for Mercedes, he says, “If we were able to get second [in the Drivers’ Championship] that would be amazing, but the main focus is really trying to get second for the team.”
In case you missed it:
- McLaren Boss Andrea Stella calls rookie Oscar Piastri a ‘benchmark’ and a ‘reference’ that Lando Norris should follow
- Toto Wolff’s proxy admits Mercedes could have gotten a double podium had they not messed up at the Qatar GP
Justin P Joy
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