Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has openly admitted that he doesn’t know how the sport can bring the teams closer together, with Red Bull having claimed their fourth 1-2 of the season on Sunday at the Miami Grand Prix.
Last Sunday’s race received massively mixed reviews, with some having labelled it as the best of 2023, whilst others ranked it on a par with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The main reason for the majority of the poor reviews was down to Red Bull having been unbeatable once again, with Max Verstappen having won from ninth on the grid.
Red Bull remain as the only team to have won a race this season, something which is clearly starting to annoy the spectators.
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Verstappen was subjected to boos after winning on Sunday, something he labelled as “normal” due to his team’s dominance.
“I think it’s normal when you’re winning and they don’t like who is winning,” Verstappen said after claiming his third win of the season.
“So this is something for me which is absolutely fine as long as I stand on the top. I take the trophy home and they go back to their houses and they can have a nice evening.”
Interestingly, though, Hamilton never really experienced the same fan treatment during Mercedes’ dominant era, where he claimed six world titles in seven years.
The 38-year-old does “understand” why fans are currently reacting the way they are and even he has noted that the regulations aren’t working, despite F1’s best efforts to close the field.
With Red Bull being so superior, the Briton is concerned that the sport could be facing several issues for years to come in terms of its competitiveneess and excitement, with there being no apparent “solution”.
“It’s not my job to convince people to watch a sport,” Hamilton said.
“I’m not watching so it’s not boring for me.
“But as a fan watching, I can understand because it’s not as competitive as maybe the NFL or the NBA at the moment. As a sport they (F1) have tried to bring the teams closer but it never seems to work.
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“All I can say is that we’re working as hard as we can to close up and get back and give them more of a fight,” Hamilton added.
“It’s just unfortunate that we still see the same sort of gaps between the teams. I don’t know what the solution is for the future, but we are going to have to adapt to these regulations.
“Otherwise it could be the same as it is now for years.”