Lewis Hamilton breaks silence on the possibility of him ending his winless streak in 2023

Hamilton has talked on several occasions about Red Bull's dominance harming F1.

Lewis Hamilton breaks silence on the possibility of him ending his winless streak in 2023

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (Credits: PlanetF1)

Mercedes legend Lewis Hamilton has seen a steep drop in performances after 2021. The seven-time champion is currently third in the WDC standings, trailing by 166 points to first place Max Verstappen. He recently opened up on whether he would be able to end Verstappen’s winning streak or not.

While acknowledging Mercedes’ progress over the season, Hamilton has said that they won’t be able to catch up with Red Bull this season. He said his aim now is to come in second in the WDC standings this season. Hamilton revealed that Mercedes had a rocky start, but they made significant developments that put them in a very strong position for the next season.

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“My full focus is on to try and secure second for the team. At the moment, I’m not quite sure we can currently compete with them [Red Bull] on race pace. There were times in [Hungary] Max was around eight-tenths faster than everyone on a single lap. But never say never,” Hamilton told racingnews365.

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Hamilton’s last victory came in Saudi Arabia in 2021. He went through the entirety of the 2022 season without a victory and will most likely see a repeat of that in 2023 as well. The closest Hamilton has come to securing a victory this season was in Hungary, where he started from pole position but finished P4.

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Lewis Hamilton to miss out on a huge bonus due to Max Verstappen’s dominance

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Credits: The SportsRush)

Lewis Hamilton is currently in negotiations for a new contract with Mercedes. The 38-year-old has been racing for the team since 2013 and wants to continue with the Silver Arrows. As Hamilton lost his dominance of F1 to Verstappen, he has also missed out on a huge bonus written in his current contract.

According to his current contract, Hamilton received a £15m bonus for each season he won the championship. After the cut-throat 2021 rivalry with Verstappen, which ended in an iconic face-off in Abu Dhabi, and Verstappen’s dominant 2022 season, Hamilton has missed out on a potential bonus of £30m.

Hamilton is currently fourth on the WDC standings, with just one point separating him and third place Fernando Alonso. While snatching the first place from Max Verstappen at this stage of the competition does not seem likely, Hamilton will surely be aiming at Sergio Perez’s second place in the standings.

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