Claiming to Disrupt Max Verstappen’s “Peace,” Lewis Hamilton Echoes Helmut Marko’s Feelings

Published 08/01/2023, 8:45 AM EDT

At the moment, nothing seems strong enough to stray Max Verstappen off his path to becoming a three-time world champion. Well, that third championship is almost inevitable now. So, to rephrase, nothing seems strong enough to stop Verstappen from winning every remaining race of 2023, not even his teammate Sergio Perez in the same car as him. The only thing that can stop his race-winning streak is the only thing (apart from his talent) that’s helping him build that streak—the RB19. He’s so at one with his car that nothing seems to trouble his peace of mind. But Lewis Hamilton might have a suggestion.

It’s no secret Hamilton misses racing at the front and competing for race wins and championships. He hasn’t tasted that for the past season-and-a-half, ever since the 2022 regulation changes came into effect. And it’s evident he’s dying to get back there. But even he knows that doing it with his W14 is close to impossible. After the Belgian GP—where he finished 42 seconds behind Verstappen, he said, as quoted by motorsport.nextgen-auto.com, “At the moment, it’s impossible to beat the Red Bulls unless they don’t finish. They’re eight tenths to a second faster per lap than everyone else. That’s what it is. I can’t nothing to do about it.” [Translated by Google]

While he can’t do anything about it in his W14, he believes he can in the RB19. He said, “Do I want to be as quick as them? Of course. Would I like to have a car as quick as the Red Bull? Of course. If I was in Sergio’s car, Max wouldn’t have the peace of mind he has now.“ Hamilton seems to think he can give Verstappen a run for his money in the RB19, and Red Bull taskmaster Helmut Marko said something similar.

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When asked if anyone can break Verstappen’s race-winning streak this season, Marko said, “I would say maybe [Fernando] Alonso or Hamilton. But in the same car it would be very difficult for them anyway when you see the level that Max has reached.” The combined 80-year-olds were the only ones competing behind Verstappen at the start of the season, but even though that situation has changed, Marko still believes only they can challenge Verstappen. While Hamilton’s suggestion to make racing more exciting this season is to take Sergio Perez’s place, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff went down another direction.

Toto Wolff suggested something a little different than what Lewis Hamilton did

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While Hamilton mentioned it’s impossible to beat the Red Bulls at the moment, the situation is slightly different. It’s not Red Bull with a target on its back. It’s Max Verstappen. He’s the one demolishing the opposition, including his teammate. So when Wolff was asked to compare Mercedes to Red Bull, he said, “I think if you just put Perez in the equation, we’re in the game. We seem to be following similar development paths, but there’s only one car that’s faster today.”

Wolff believes the W14 is comparable to Perez’s RB19 and that the only car Mercedes is currently targeting is Verstappen’s. He added, “You just need to take Max out of the equation. The second Red Bull is where we are. Without Verstappen, it would be a fantastic season and close racing.” And it’s true. Without Verstappen, there would’ve already been five race winners from five different teams this season, and who wouldn’t want to witness that?

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Is Lewis Hamilton shifting to Red Bull the only way anyone can compete against Max Verstappen?

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Written by:

Aditi is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports and is essentially a sportsperson. She fell in love with F1 in 2020. It happened when her brother tuned into that first race weekend in Austria, and she knew right then and there that she had to learn everything she could about the sport.

Edited by:

Aishwary Gaonkar

Claiming to Disrupt Max Verstappen’s “Peace,” Lewis Hamilton Echoes Helmut Marko’s Feelings

Toto Wolff suggested something a little different than what Lewis Hamilton did

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