Hamilton makes SHOCK 'driving ability' admission in Red Bull battle
Hamilton makes SHOCK 'driving ability' admission in Red Bull battle
Lewis Hamilton has admitted his driving ability alone is "not enough" to help him challenge the rampant Red Bulls this year.
After a shaky start to the season and more questions over their divisive car concept, Mercedes introduced a raft of upgrades to lift their performance.
The wide-ranging package, first utilised at the Monaco Grand Prix, quickly had its desired effect, allowing Hamilton and George Russell to push for podiums.
However, even in spite of their improvements, Mercedes have been unable to narrow the gap on Red Bull, who have raced away at the front of the grid.
READ MORE: FIA set to 'SCREW' Red Bull after Hamilton suggestion
Hamilton: Deficit too big
"I'm always trying to rely on my driving ability to make up for the deficit, but it's not been ultimately enough in a lot of places," Hamilton said.
"If you look at the race in Silverstone, you may not have seen it, but we were equal in time until Turn 13 to Max on a qualifying lap. Then we just lost the performance and speed after that."
The seven-time world champion has also bullishly insisted that he would fight wheel-to-wheel with Max Verstappen in the same RB19.
"Do I want to be as fast as them? Of course," he said. "Do I want a car as fast as theirs? Of course. If I was in Sergio [Perez]'s car...Max would not be having the same time that he’s having now."
Hamilton currently sits fourth in the drivers' standings with 148 points.
READ MORE: Mercedes to launch REVIEW after Hamilton and Russell incident
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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