Lewis Hamilton delivered his best result of the 2023 F1 season on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix, after successfully claiming his first podium of the season.
After starting in third, Hamilton moved up to second ahead of Max Verstappen on the opening lap, before beginning his attack on team-mate George Russell.
Hamilton found himself in the lead early on after Russell pitted for an early stop, before leading the field into Turn One from the first of three race restarts.
A few laps after the race was restarted following the first of three red flags, Hamilton lost the lead to Verstappen, who was simply too quick.
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The 38-year-old did then settle into second very well, although, he did come under some mild pressure from Fernando Alonso, somebody who the Mercedes driver did not want to finish behind.
“There’s no way I’m losing to him [Alonso],” Hamilton said over the team radio.
Hamilton didn’t lose to Alonso and went on to claim second, after maintaining second following the second and third race restarts.
As a result, the Stevenage-born driver is now fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, as he extended his run of finishing in the top five at every round so far this season.
Hamilton was very pleased with the podium given that he still isn’t happy with the W14 and labelled the team’s first podium of the season as a “real boost of hope”, although, as things stand Verstappen and Red Bull are “in another league”.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do clearly to catch the Red Bull because they came flying past and disappeared,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“But I think this hopefully gives us a real boost of hope and energy. That it’s so early on in the season yet we’re there are thereabouts kind of so this is a message everyone should just dig deep keep pushing, because it’s not that far away and it’s relatively close to reach.
“Max is in another league.
“His car is so fast, he passed me halfway down the straight and he was several metres ahead, like 10 metres ahead [before the corner], but I don’t know how they’re so quick on the straight – it’s just insane.
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“So they’re just in another league and until we pick up speed on the straight like they have, and have the crazy downforce that they have through the corners, that’s how it’s going to continue.
“But I think for the others, I think if we continue to work together, we can definitely fight the Ferraris and the Red Bulls.
“The battle is really with Fernando right now. I enjoyed racing with him, it was very reminiscent of my first race here in 2007.”