Lewis Hamilton: Red Bull 'still a title runner’ in 2020 F1 fight
Lewis H𒆙amilton has stressed Mercedes needs to “stay on our toes” to remain ahead of Red Bull, who he believes are “still a title runner” in the 2020 Formula 1 season.
Hamilton holds a 37-point advantage over Max Verstappen ﷺin this year’s championship standings after winning four of💮 the opening six races of the season.
Verstappen has scored the only non-Mercedes victory in the 💧70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone and would have been closer to Hamilton had he not lost a heap of poi♚nts because of a retirement in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Speaking in Thursday’s F1 press conference ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, ওHamilton insisted he feels Red Bull and Verstappen are still in the championship fight.
“If you take the first race away with Max having the DNF, I think if you look at the results it would be very, very close in poin💜ts still,” Hamilton said.
“And obviously they’ve had very strong results. And they’re getti✤ng closer in races, maybe in qualifying we do have the edge but when it comes to the race we’re generally a lot 🐼closer.
“We’reﷺ not even halfway through the season. And so I, absolutely, keep my eꦚye on them. I think they still are a title runner, and so we need to stay on our toes.”
While Verstappen was able to win the second Silverstone race largely due to a combination of hot temperatures, a high-energy circuit and softer Pirelli tyres, Red Bull has not been aꦛ match for Mercedꩲes in qualifying so far this season.
Although Pirelli is bringin🍬g the same compounds used in the 70th Anniversar🏅y GP to Belgium this weekend, Verstappen doubts Red Bull will be able to challenge for victory.
“We kept saying we need heat, we need heat – well, we defin♎itely ꧃got beaten in the heat in Barcelona,” Verstappen explained.
“Maybe we could have done thi🌳ngs better, but a gap like that even with a bit of set-up work it’s not going t🌳o change
“Maybe the tyres will help. I don’t know, it’s not going to be warm enough I think anyway. So yeah,𓂃 it’s tricky, but I always like to be realistic. I don’t like to tell fairy tales.
🧜“It w𓆉ill be hard. But I will try to of course be on the podium.”
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