Sir Lewis Hamilton has said Mercedes’ upcoming upgrades “definitely” won’t be enough to fully close the gap to Red Bull, who currently lead both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship.
The seven-time World Champion’s last victory came in May at the Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull winning the five races which have been contested since then.
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Speaking ahead of this month’s British Grand Prix, Hamilton said he believes Mercedes’ planned upgrades won’t be enough to put them ahead of Red Bull, but he is hopeful that they will at least make them more competitive.
“The upgrades are definitely not going to make up the time,” Hamilton said.
“I would say these past four, five races have been so difficult and obviously, we’ve lost a lot of ground over these last four races so it’s been pretty painful.
“We can’t match those guys at the moment so we’ll do our best but it’s definitely tough,” he added.
Earlier, Valtteri Bottas suggested that Red Bull is only the clear favourite at certain tracks – and he too expressed optimism that the upgrades which will be on the car at Silverstone will help them gain on Red Bull.
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“It was quite a clear difference,” Bottas replied when asked about Red Bull’s pace advantage at the Red Bull Ring, which hosted the last two grand prix.
“But it’s going to be a completely different type of track next week.
“We need to keep working. We have time to try and find more pace but also we have some upgrades planned for Silverstone so hopefully, they will help,” the Finnish driver concluded.
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