Hamilton Says Not Much He Can Do About Verstappen ‘Cruising Ahead’

Lewis Hamilton in Austria - Formula1news.co.uk

Sir Lewis Hamilton has admitted that the last few races have been difficult for him and Mercedes, with Max Verstappen taking a string of victories to build his lead in the Championship over the seven-time World Champion.

Red Bull have had the stronger car at most grand prix so far this season, but Hamilton is hoping for a “different scenario” in the next race, which will be at Silverstone.

READ: Lando Norris Confident He Could Challenge Max Verstappen In Similar Machinery

“These past races have been difficult and he [Verstappen] is pretty much just cruising ahead so there’s really not much I can do about that,” Hamilton said.

“Of course, I’m praying for a different scenario in the next race. You look at their [Red Bull] car and it’s just on rails so we’re giving it absolutely everything.

“This past two weeks I’ve been to the factory each week trying to extract as much as I can from the car but our car just doesn’t go well here [in Austria] for some reason, and I really hope that it does in the next ones,” he added.

Asked if he felt his chances of winning an eight F1 Championship this year were fading, Hamilton replied: “I’m not really focusing on that, to be honest, I’m just trying to get better performance.”

He also revealed that Mercedes will have some upgrades on their car at the next race in Silverstone but he nevertheless believes they will have more work to do to close the gap to Red Bull.

“We have a little bit coming but it’s not going to close the gap enough so we’ve got to do some more work.”

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