The 2021 season seemed like the start of another rivalry that would go down as one of the greatest in Formula 1 history—Lewis Hamilton versus Max Verstappen. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Much to everyone’s surprise—especially Hamilton and Mercedes’—the team that dominated the turbo-hybrid era from 2014 to 2021 couldn’t build a car that could compete against Red Bull after the 2022 regulation changes. So the rivalry that was born in 2021 died in 2021 too, and for the past season-and-a-half, Mercedes has been playing catch-up. Despite its un-Mercedes-esque performances, though, Hamilton hasn’t lost hope.

At the Hungarian GP last weekend, the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry was rekindled with a little spark. And although it didn’t work out in Hamilton’s favor, he still took the small win he did get over his former rival. The RB19—Red Bull’s 2023 challenger—has been unbeatable in races this season, and it maintained an almost 100% record in qualifying (Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got pole in Baku). And at the Hungaroring—one of Hamilton’s favorite tracks—the Brit became another blip in Red Bull’s qualifying record, snatching pole position from Verstappen by just 0.003s. Even though Max overtook him before Turn 1 and didn’t look back, Hamilton is optimistic about Mercedes’ chances this season.

During the drivers’ press conference at the Belgian GP, Hamilton was asked if he could win a race this season. He replied, “At the moment? Not quite sure we can compete with [Max]. There were times in the last race when he was 0.8s faster than everyone on a single lap.” But considering the developments Mercedes is making to close the gap, Hamilton added, “But never say never.”

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It’s clear that, even though Red Bull is practically unreachable at the moment, Hamilton hasn’t lost hope in his team. And Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has the same mindset the seven-time champion has.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff don’t plan on giving up on 2023 yet

With Hamilton’s pole in Hungary, Mercedes did something only Leclerc had managed to do this season—beat Red Bull on one-lap pace. Even though this pace didn’t convert to good race pace on Sunday, Mercedes has a newfound motivation owing to Hamilton’s pole and George Russell’s fight through the field during the race. And while this motivation would be directed at catching Red Bull, Mercedes is using McLaren’s resurgence as inspiration to do it.

Toto Wolff said, “You can see how McLaren has leapfrogged everybody else with an update that they didn’t expect to be that powerful. We just need to continue working, chipping away at our understanding and unlocking potential in the car as did Aston Martin over the winter or McLaren during the season. We won’t give up.”

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