Lewis Hamilton v/s Max Verstappen is a battle that is going down in the history books of Formula 1. While the Dutchman has successfully won the battle and leveled up to the next stage, which is total domination, Hamilton has been left in the dust. But there is a twist in the tale. On Friday, at Zandvoort, the drivers’ respective laps were compared and some good analytics found that Hamilton could actually make a comeback.

In FP1, the 7-time champion finished P3, nearly 4 tenths behind Verstappen, who finished P1. But in certain sections of the circuit, Red Bull’s RB19 was no match for Mercedes‘ W14. What a surprise! F1 TV’s very own Technical Analyst, Sam Collins broke down Hamilton’s entire lap and showed how the Briton could be in contention for pole position at the Dutch GP.

“Lewis Hamilton’s car is looking really good under acceleration out of slow-speed corners,” Collins explained after the practice session on Friday. “It’s actually really quick around a lot of the lap. Less than 1 and a half tenths of a second between predicted pole and third. Hamilton is actually a contender for pole position.”

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The numbers predict a strong showing for Hamilton. Yet, he has chosen to be a tad cautious of raising his expectations because of Verstappen’s dominant season.

Despite closing the gap to Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton makes conservative claims

The rate at which Max Verstappen is progressing, even if he lapped all the other 19 cars, it won’t be a surprise. So even though Lewis Hamilton is touted to be a strong contender for Pole at his rival’s home turf, he is aware of what awaits him when Red Bull unleashes their might in Qualifying.

“FP1 was a really good session from us,” Hamilton told Sky Sports, with a certain joy in his voice. “The car felt good from the get-go thanks to some good work from everyone in the factory. The Red Bulls are a little bit quicker as always. I don’t necessarily anticipate we will easily beat them, but I think we are going to be close. I want to get up as high as possible. It would be great to be in the top three.”

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Will Hamilton be able to do justice to Sam Collins’ predictions or will Verstappen defy the analytics to get yet another Pole position?