Max Verstappen (NLD), Red Bull Racing and Lewis Hamilton (GBR), Mercedes AMG F1 02.04.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Race Day.
Lewis Hamilton says he is confident that Mercedes can catch Red Bull after clinching his first podium of the 2023 Formula 1 season in Australia.
After starting third, Hamilton took advantage of a slightly hesitant moment from Max Verstappen on the exit of Turn 1 to overtake his ex-rival into Turn 3 and make it a Mercedes 1-2.
Although Verstappen soon breezed back past on his way to victory, Hamilton survived various red flag restart to follow the reigning champion home in second.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton admitted his surprise at being equipped with a car that enabled him to stand on the podium in Melbourne for a 10th time.
“It was very unexpected,” the seven-time champion said.
“Obviously just coming into the weekend, but obviously, also getting a second and third and qualifying yesterday really blew us all away and a huge boost of energy throughout the team.
So that meant today we had a shot at, you know, trying to at least overtake Max for a second. And so, we both got ahead, which was amazing.
“To have a Mercedes one-two for a second. And obviously he came sailing by at one stage, but it was a really entertaining race, and I had a really good battle with Fernando, which was awesome.”
Despite beating both Aston Martins and the sole Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to second, Hamilton acknowledged he is still not entirely comfortable in the troublesome W14.
But while he admits it will be tough, the Brit is confident that Mercedes can eventually close the colossal gap to Red Bull.
“Yeah, I still feel uncomfortable in the car, though,” he conceded. “The car… I still don’t feel connected to it.
“So I’m driving as best I can with that disconnect. And I’m working as hard as I can to try and create that connect. But I think it’s a long project.
“But still, considering we’ve been down on performance, we’re clearly down on end-of-straight pace compared to the Red Bulls, for us to be up here fighting with Aston is just amazing at this point in the season. And we’ve just got to keep on fighting.
“Big, big thank you to all the people back to the factory. Let’s keep pushing. We can close that gap. It’s going to be tough, but not impossible.”
Lewis Hamilton (GBR), Mercedes AMG F1 and Max Verstappen (NLD), Red Bull Racing 02.04.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Race Day.
Verstappen, however, attributed the low-degradation nature of the Albert Park Circuit and the trouble several drivers had with the cooler conditions to Red Bull’s advantage being smaller.
The reigning World Champion believes visits to more tracks should be completed before it can be conclusively gauged that the chasing pack have closed in.
“I think it was also the nature of the track, with the very low deg,” the Red Bull driver assessed. “So, I think that all made it a bit closer.
“The warm-up was also quite tricky. Some teams probably nailed it a bit better than others. So yeah, difficult to say. I think we need to go to a few more tracks to have a full understanding.”
While Hamilton was understandably jubilant with his result, he has stated cause for concern regarding the suspected engine failure that curtailed George Russell’s race in the sister car.
“It’s very unlucky for George today and on our side we’ve got to look into… Our reliability has generally been really good, so that’s really unfortunate,” he added.
“But otherwise, to get those points is really amazing today. I definitely didn’t expect to be second. So I’m super grateful for it.”
Keyword: Hamilton: Catching Red Bull ‘tough’ but ‘not impossible’