Lewis Hamilton claims he is ‘one of the few’ drivers capable of challenging Max Verstappen for the title

Lewis Hamilton is hopeful to challenge the current dominant world champion Max Verstappen starting from 2024.

Lewis Hamilton claims he is ‘one of the few’ drivers capable of challenging Max Verstappen for the title

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)

Since the start of the 2022 season,, Formula One has been dominated by Red Bull and their star driver Max Verstappen. Besides a short challenge by Ferrai in 2022, no team has come close to giving them a fight. Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have been the most disappointing sides once the Verstappen era started. They’ve won just one race in the last two years, while their star driver, Hamilton, hasn’t won a single one.

The Englishman has shown some progress in the 2023 season. He is in a close fight with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in a dominant RB19. He is just 30 behind the Mexican despite having no wins and fewer podiums than his rival. Hamilton, in an interview ahead of the US GP, claimed that he is one of the handful of drivers capable of challenging Verstappen for the title.

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Hamilton discussed his performance this season and said that he has been praying every day for the opportunity to close the gap with Red Bull every day. He admitted that he wants to fight Versattpen every day and claimed he is one of the few drivers who are capable of giving him a challenge. Hamilton said, as reported by GPBlog

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I’m praying every day that we will close the gap with Red Bull. I want to be fighting for the championship; I want to be fighting Max...I believe I’m one of the only drivers that can do so [challenge Verstappen], but we got to have the package.

What caused the Mercedes to be incapable of challenging Max Verstappen?

The current car, the W14, designed by John Owen, didn’t have enough stability to compete with the dominant RB19 of Red Bull. The car had stability and balance issues, which caused the racers to be less confident when tackling high-speed corners. The car also has insufficient downforce, causing problems for the racers.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)

The team boss, Toto Wolff, also commented on the W14. He added that the car had no sweet spots on it. “These cars are on the knife’s edge,” said Wolff about W14. The boss claimed that with W15 [the car for next season], the team will ‘go back to basics’ at the development stage and looked hopeful of a more competitive next year.

Although George Russell has claimed that the team cannot make promises for a better car next year, With the W14, there were a lot of spots where the team could ‘improve upon’ as said by Russell. Despite a difficult season, Russell reassures his confidence in the team to design a much more capable W15 for the next year.

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