Lewis Hamilton is reportedly encouraging the media to “ask questions” regarding why Red Bull’s advantage has decreased in recent races, according to Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz.
Whilst Max Verstappen and Red Bull have remained imperious over recent races, the likes of McLaren and Mercedes have certainly been making progress.
At the British Grand Prix, Lando Norris overtook Verstappen to lead the opening few laps, something which has rarely happened this season.
Fast forward to last weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and Hamilton staggeringly beat the reigning World Champion to pole position, despite Red Bull having fitted a large upgrades package.
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Only a few races ago, the Silver Arrows were nowhere near challenging for pole, convincing Hamilton that something is up at Red Bull.
As a result, the Briton is supposedly encouraging the media to ask Red Bull why.
“I know Lewis Hamilton is starting to encourage us in the media to ask questions as to why Red Bull, in his view, why Red Bull aren’t as quick as they used to be. And in his view why Red Bull aren’t getting the same advantage from the DRS that they have all season,” Kravitz said on Sky Sports F1.
“I’m not sure that’s ultimately true. But Lewis certainly wants to put that out there and get the media to investigate that.”
Kravitz added: “I’m sure Max will go to bed thinking ‘you know what I’ll let him at the first corner. I will let Lewis have the first corner.
“But can he do that? Can Max let Lewis have the first corner off the start? Lewis? Can he let Lewis have the first corner off the start or does he have to go for it?
“Max’s start being good, not bad, they’ve been okay. Alright, he lost out to Lando at Silverstone, they’ve been alright, but they haven’t been stellar. But what does he do tomorrow? I can’t wait to see what is going on.”
Hamilton specifically questioned where Red Bull’s “DRS advantage” has gone, with the side having breezed past cars for the bulk of the season so far.
The 38-year-old openly admitted after his pole lap that himself and Mercedes were “surprised” to have beaten Verstappen and how suddenly the leading teams have “all closed up”.
“Honestly, I think they’ve slowed down quite a bit from the beginning of the year,” insisted Hamilton.
“I mean, just like other DRS they don’t have the DRS advantage all the sudden than they used to have. Where did that go?
“So yeah, but I mean they’ve just had an upgrade. So with all due respect to them, for them to not have extracted that in qualifying is interesting, but I think in the race, they’re still the quickest and I think it’ll be very hard to beat them tomorrow.
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“But yeah, we are just as surprised as everybody else. But definitely interesting to see some, you know, see some of the deficits and how it’s changed from race to race and how we’ve all closed up.”
Verstappen did end up overtaking Hamilton on the run into Turn 1, before winning the race by over 30 seconds.
It was another sensational display by the Dutchman, who boasts a 110-point lead in the standings.