Lewis Hamilton expects rival Max Verstappen to cruise to second title
Lewis Hamilton tips ‘smooth-sailing’ rival Max Verstappen to cruise to his second world title after the Dutchman pulled further clear of the field with victory in the French Grand Prix
- Max Verstappen is 63 points clear at the top of the drivers’ championship table
- The Dutchman won the French Grand Prix over the weekend at a relative canter
- Lewis Hamilton says he expects his rival to continue his cruise to the world title
Lewis Hamilton expects Max Verstappen to cruise to his second world championship – describing the Red Bull driver’s path to probable glory as ‘smooth-sailing’.
Verstappen racked up the seventh win of his title defence at Sunday’s French Grand Prix after rival Charles Leclerc crashed out from the lead.
Verstappen will arrive for this week’s Hungarian Grand Prix – the final round before Formula One’s four-week summer shutdown – holding a commanding 63-point advantage over Leclerc, the equivalent of two-and-a-half victories with 10 rounds left.
Lewis Hamilton said his rival Max Verstappen was ‘smooth-sailing’ toward his second title
Hamilton, who is now more than a century of points behind Verstappen despite claiming his best result of the season with second place in France, said: “I am gutted for Charles. He has been doing a great job.
‘But it is not easy to have that performance and pace and be able to maintain it. I feel for the whole team because I know what that can feel like.
‘It is a massive gap to Max so that is pretty smooth-sailing for him in that space.
‘But a lot can go wrong. I would just advise Ferrari to keep their heads down and continue to push.’
Hamilton’s Mercedes team celebrated their finest result of the season with George Russell finishing third to join Hamilton on the podium.
It has been a turbulent campaign for the grid’s once all-conquering team, leaving Hamilton to draw parallels with 2009.
Max Verstappen won his 27th Formula One race and second consecutively at the French GP
Hamilton started that season in a deeply uncompetitive McLaren before pulling off a surprise win at the Hungaroring. Could history repeat itself this weekend?
‘I remember that year very clearly,’ said Hamilton, who has won in Hungary a record eight times.
‘I remember arriving back from winter training and being in a meeting with the guys, and they were like ‘we have already hit our downforce target’. And I was like “wow, really? That probably means we have not set the target high enough”.
‘I got in the car in a test at Portimao and it was horrendous to drive, the worst car I have ever driven. But we chipped away at it, and we got our first win in Budapest.
Mercedes managed a P2 and P3 finish after George Russel passed Sergio Perez late in the day
Lewis Hamilton finished second having started in P4 in his 300th Formula One start
‘The start of this year was very similar. Sitting down it looked glorious. We had a lot of performance on the car, and a lot of confidence that the car was going to be good.
‘But we got in the car, it was bouncing and it has taken a long time to fix that.
‘So far we have not made that big step that we did in 2009 to win in Budapest but who knows? We are not giving up.
‘We are staying pedal to the metal. Maybe our car will be good in Hungary, maybe we will be closer to Red Bull and Ferrari. I hope so much that we will be because I love that track.’
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