Hamilton admits driving ability ‘not enough’ to make up Red Bull deficit

Mercedes have lagged behind the pace of Red Bull’s dominant RB19 which has gone unbeaten across the opening 12 races of 2023, with Max Verstappen cruising to 10 victories so far. 

Despite introducing a string of significant upgrades that helped the team bridge some of the gap to Red Bull and fight for the podium at certain races, Mercedes have been unable to challenge for wins. 

Instead, Mercedes have largely been involved in a tight battle for the final podium spot with the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren. 

Hamilton, who did manage to beat Verstappen to pole in Hungary only to slip back to fourth in the race, admits his ability cannot make up for all of the W14’s performance deficit. 

“I’m always trying to rely on my driving ability to make up for the deficit, but it’s not been ultimately enough in a lot of places,” the seven-time world champion said.

“If you look at the race in Silverstone, you may not have seen it, but we were equal in time until Turn 13 to Max on a qualifying lap.

“Then we just lost the performance and speed after that.”

Hamilton and Mercedes teammate George Russell also had to contend with significant bouncing issues which reappeared at the final race before F1’s summer break in Belgium. 

Hamilton aimed a cheeky swipe at Sergio Perez by claiming that Verstappen would not be enjoying such an easy ride this season if he was driving the Mexican’s Red Bull car. 

"If I was in Sergio’s car, Max would not be having the same [good] time he’s having now,” the 38-year-old Briton said. 

Hamilton’s comment came after Verstappen finished 22 seconds ahead of Perez at Spa-Francorchamps, despite starting five places behind his teammate in sixth due to a grid penalty.