It’s been a long time coming, but Lewis Hamilton has finally stamped his authority back on F1. After the events of 2021 and the dreadful pit, Mercedes found themselves in 2022, many had written the duo off. However, true to form, they came back. At the 2023 Hungarian GP, 7x champion, Lewis Hamilton will start from pole. But the Brit isn’t a wishful thinker. The margins to Max Verstappen were slim, and he knows that the Dutch lion will be on the prowl come race day.

Verstappen has been in another league this season strapped into the RB19. That’s exactly why, it took a lot of deliberation and an outstanding lap from the Brit to pip Verstappen to pole by just 0.003 seconds. For Hamilton, getting pole isn’t enough. He wants to win again but he is wary of Verstappen.

Has Lewis Hamilton compromised his race day?

You’d expect being on pole would be a blessing. However, with all the context into tomorrow’s titanic showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the pressure is really high on the Brit. And while he would want to prepare for tomorrow’s race, he knows he’s in for a sleepless night of tossing and turning.

After the session, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1’s Danica Patrick, “I just have to try and see if I can sleep tonight. I think tomorrow, we’ll study as hard as we can, we’ll bring our A game tomorrow as a team. It’s gonna be difficult to fight these two guys, you know Lando [Norris] has been doing a mega job, it’s been great to see McLaren up there, battling.”

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“And Max… you know Max, he’s always up there, he’s always doing his thing.”

But does Hamilton have much to fear against an ailing Verstappen?

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Max Verstappen writes of Hungarian GP

Verstappen never really seemed one with the car all throughout the weekend. And it culminated in the Brit snatching pole from his rightful hands. And alarmingly for the Dutch lion, with race day tomorrow, he doesn’t feel confident at all.

After Qualifying, he was quoted as saying, “I’ve been struggling all weekend to find good balance. Really difficult Q1 through, difficult to attack corners. Second run, no feeling, tried to push a bit more. We’re still second but we should be ahead with the car we have normally. So far this weekend we haven’t been on it.”

Can Lewis Hamilton be the one to finally put an end to Max Verstappen’s 2023 domination tomorrow?

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