Breaking news
Formula 1
Hamilton warns Red Bull "could be ahead a lot more" in F1 battle
Lewis Hamilton is pleased Formula 1 fans are excited by a potential Mercedes/Red Bull title fight but warns that Max Verstappen’s squad could “be ahead a lot more” after Bahrain.
Alex Kalinauckas
Edited: Apr 4, 2021, 11:02 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Verstappen claimed pole for F1’s 2021 season opener by 0.388-seconds and showed race-winning pace after leading the early stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
He ultimately lost out after Mercedes’ aggressive strategy got Hamilton ahead, and the world champion’s tyre management skills on a long final stint meant the Dutchman only had one late chance to pass, which controversially went wrong.
Mercedes warned after the Bahrain race that it its 2021 package does not “really have any strengths relative to [Red Bull],” per trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin in the aftermath of Hamilton’s win, with the team also predicting that it will struggle at F1’s next two races at Imola and Portimao.
When asked for his reaction to fan excitement about a possible season-long battle between drivers from two different teams for the 2021 title – a scenario the championship has not had since Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso took the 2012 season to the wire – Hamilton said: “I’m super excited and super happy for the fans, that they are excited.
“I think it’s something that all the fans have wanted for a long time.
“Of course, this is only one race, so we don’t know what the future holds in terms of [how the season will unfold].
“With the pace they have, they could be ahead a lot more, but we’re going to work as hard as we can to try and stay close in this battle.
“I hope for many more of these sorts of races with Max and Valtteri [Bottas, who finished third in Bahrain last weekend]. There’s a long way to go. 22 [races] – holy crap! I’ll be grey by the end of this!”
Read Also:
- Honda F1 engine "very, very close" to Mercedes now - Tost
- The nightmare timing that now hinders Mercedes
- Mercedes: Going high rake would write off F1 2021 campaign
Verstappen was also asked if he was relishing the prospect of fighting Hamilton for race victories across a whole season – with consistency something Red Bull has lacked since the 23-year-old was promoted to the team from its Toro Rosso sister squad back in 2016.
“It was great today but like Lewis said, it’s a still bit difficult to say where we are exactly in pace,” said Verstappen.
“But, again, it’s also a very long season so I guess we will just find out in time how it’s going to go.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Red Bull won't "burn" rough diamond Tsunoda with hasty promotion
Next article Vettel admits he is “not at home” in Aston Martin F1 car
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Alex Kalinauckas
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
More from
Lewis Hamilton
The mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium at F1’s US GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
12 h
The mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium at F1’s US GP
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Latest news
NASCAR warned nearly the full field at Talladega for minimum speed violations
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
NASCAR warned nearly the full field at Talladega for minimum speed violations
Carson Hocevar credits tow truck driver for saving his race at Talladega
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
5 h
Carson Hocevar credits tow truck driver for saving his race at Talladega
Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
6 h
Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville
Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
9 h
Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe