Hamilton fears Red Bull is catching Mercedes

Published on 25 Aug 2019 13:00

By: Coilin Higgins

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has spoke of his fears that rival team Red Bull is closing the gap to the Silver Arrows, thanks to the recent form of Max Verstappen and the new Red Bull-Honda partnership.

The Red Bull team switched to Honda power units from long time suppliers Renault for the 2019 season and has since been constantly on form as the second best team thanks to the efforts and results of Verstappen in recent races.

“Time will tell. I think(Verstappen's) done a great job and they have clearly done a great job in quite a few of the races now,” Hamilton said. “Nevertheless, I think we need to just focus on ourselves and not be distracted by focusing on others."

Verstappen and Red Bull have edged really close to Mercedes in recent races, with Verstappen taking a second win of the season in Germany and his first F1 pole position in Hungary.

Hamilton dueled hard all race for the win with Verstappen in Hungary but could not find a way around the Dutchman, prompting a late risky pit stop for Hamilton for fresh tyres which eventually saw him wrestle the lead from the Red Bull with four laps to go.

Red Bull are just 44 points behind second-placed Ferrari in the constructors championship coming into the second half of the season, and also have an new driver pairing coming into the next race at Spa, with Toro Rosso youngster Alex Albon replacing Pierre Gasly from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards.

“It’s easier to catch up than it is to stay ahead, to be the leader in many different aspects. But it’s great to see them progressing." Hamilton said.

“We want the competition so we’ll be ready for the fight whatever the case.”

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

He isn't. This is very typical Merc' and Hammy talk. "Oh no, they are sure having us served now! Woe me, what on earth are we to do?!". That kinda talk is stuff they've been pulling for years at this rate, and it's so old you could serve it as a Danish cheese.

2
Aug 25 2019 - 20:38

F1 News Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Red Bull Racing

Replies (6)

Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
Hmmm... Interesting spin on what Hamster said. "I think we need to just focus on ourselves and not be distracted by focusing on others." And, “We want the competition so we’ll be ready for the fight whatever the case.” Doesn't sound like he's afraid at all to me.
- + 0
- Aug 25 2019 - 17:27
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  He isn't. This is very typical Merc' and Hammy talk. "Oh no, they are sure having us served now! Woe me, what on earth are we to do?!". That kinda talk is stuff they've been pulling for years at this rate, and it's so old you could serve it as a Danish cheese.
  + 2
  
  Aug 25 2019 - 20:38
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  I kind of see it more as journalistic liberties as I don't see him talking about his fears at all as the article suggests.
  + 0
  
  Aug 26 2019 - 03:47
Pistonhead

Posts: 556
We genuinely have three contenders for race wins and Hamilton remains top dog - Ive been watching him since he started in F1 and he doesn't yet have a peer in terms of all round package - though the others are closing, Max uppermost. Ive said it before, it will be a Max era once Hamilton retires, can he grab 7 titles?
- + 0
- Aug 25 2019 - 22:51
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  It might be but Max hasn't has as good of a start in his first few years as Ham and his maturity level on and off track is just coming around to what Ham's was his second season, so nope, I don't see it.
  + 0
  
  Aug 26 2019 - 03:46
boudy

Posts: 1,168
Hamilton and Verstappen are quite similar, both talented in multiple areas. It's all about gaining advantage and putting yourself in a winning position. He's right about the notion of its easier catch up than stay to in front. However Mercedes has had the better PU over the last couple of years and wasn't willing to share this unit with any team that had the potential of beating them.

All of Hamilton wins in F1 are done with use of the Mercedes PU could we see him switch to another supplier? Verstappens wins were far harder in the sense of him not having the better PU versus Hamilton.

Him acknowledging of the fact that RBH are gaining on Mercedes is not a bad thing however it will not stop RBR and Honda from desire of beating Mercedes on pure performance nor will it destabilise Verstappen.

There seems to be a lot of mutual respect between Verstappen and Hamilton which isn't a bad thing.
- + 0
- Aug 27 2019 - 11:54

Total queries: 4
Total time: 0.17729306221008
time	sincestart	caller	annotate	bt	desc
	0.000453				instantiate query log (0Q - total module time: 0.00059199s)	""
	0.001051				boot (0Q - total module time: 0.00009894s)	""
	0.001153				translation-init (1Q - total module time: 0.00092816s)	""
0.00025415	0.001817	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Redirect.php:105(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Entities/Redirect.php:112(findByOrigin) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Redirects.php:108(getRedirectOrFalse) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:115(checkForDBRedirects) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT redirects.id, redirects.origin, redirects.referer FROM redirects WHERE redirects.origin = :origin ORDER BY id	{"origin":"\/en\/news\/f1\/250207\/hamilton-fears-red-bull-is-catching-mercedes"}
	0.002083				controller::news/f1/250207/hamilton-fears-red-bull-is-catching-mercedes (2Q - total module time: 0.10736990s)	""
0.01223922	0.002960	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:389(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:127(findNextArticle) {"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId > :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId ASC LIMIT 1	{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 16:20:00","articleId":250207,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
0.06494713	0.015243	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:318(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:128(findPrevArticle) {"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId < :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId DESC LIMIT 1	{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 16:20:00","articleId":250207,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
	0.109456		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Result (0Q - total module time: 0.00049114s)	""
	0.109950		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Photos (0Q - total module time: 0.00011611s)	""
	0.110068		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Trending (0Q - total module time: 0.00009894s)	""
	0.110169		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Reply (1Q - total module time: 0.06329989s)	""
0.05642581	0.110653	/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php		/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Connection.php:1323(stopQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query/Exec/SingleSelectExecutor.php:31(executeQuery) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query.php:325(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1212(_doExecute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1166(executeIgnoreQueryCache) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:901(execute) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php:192(getResult) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/CommentVotesManager.php:46(getCommentVotesByVoteIp) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Modules/News/Reply.php:101(getCommentVotesByIP) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:115(internalRender) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:89(captureOutput) {"function":"F1T\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\ModuleBase","object":{"_amp":false},"type":"->","args":[]} /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:92(lazyFetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigExtensions/ModuleRenderer.php:35(fetch) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:549(renderModule) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_mainContent) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:62(displayBlock) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_content) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:715(displayBlock) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:45(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:46(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:390(display) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/TemplateWrapper.php:45(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php:318(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigRenderer.php:115(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:98(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:79(renderViewFile) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:261(render) /var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)	SELECT c0_.CommentId AS CommentId_0, c1_.Vote AS Vote_1 FROM Comments c0_ INNER JOIN CommentVotes c1_ ON (c1_.CommentId = c0_.CommentId) WHERE c0_.ArticleId = ? AND c1_.VoteIp = ?	[250207,"216.73.216.130"]
	0.173471		cacheAble: no		module:Sidebar (0Q - total module time: 0.00032783s)	""
	0.173802				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00001192s)	""
	0.173816				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpschedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)	""
	0.173819		cacheAble: yes		module:GpSchedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00013399s)	""
	0.173955				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::results (0Q - total module time: 0.00000381s)	""
	0.173961		cacheAble: yes		module:Results (0Q - total module time: 0.00010085s)	""
	0.174063				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::testcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.174067		cacheAble: yes		module:TestCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00009012s)	""
	0.174159				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.174163				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.174165				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::relatednews (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)	""
	0.174169		cacheAble: yes		module:RelatedNews (0Q - total module time: 0.00009298s)	""
	0.174264				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::whoischatting (0Q - total module time: 0.00000501s)	""
	0.174269				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.174272				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.174274		cacheAble: no		module:Poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00164008s)	""
	0.175916				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000501s)	""
	0.175922				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.175924				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)	""
	0.175927		cacheAble: yes		module:GpCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00013995s)	""
	0.176069				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::driver_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.176075		cacheAble: yes		module:Driver\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00009608s)	""
	0.176173				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::team_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)	""
	0.176178		cacheAble: yes		module:Team\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00008702s)	""
	0.176267				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::linkedKeywords (0Q - total module time: 0.00000501s)	""
	0.176273				sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpsidebarnavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)	""
	0.176275		cacheAble: no		module:GpSidebarNavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00051713s)	""
	0.176794		cacheAble: yes		module:Layout\Footer (0Q - total module time: 0.00012517s)	""
	0.176922		cacheAble: yes		module:News\Breaking (0Q - total module time: 0.00036597s)	""
	0.177291				done	""

Hamilton fears Red Bull is catching Mercedes

calle.itw

Trending news

Replies (6)

Ram Samartha

calle.itw

Ram Samartha

Pistonhead

Ram Samartha

boudy

Grand Prix of Belgium

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Race / Startgrid

Grand Prix of Belgium

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

World Championship standings 2023

Test calendar

Related news

Verstappen and Albon react to poor Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull

Vettel – Hamilton is certainly the greatest of our era

Verstappen not surprised to qualify fifth for Italian Grand Prix

Winning the teams' title is better than the drivers', according to Hamilton

Hamilton admits finding Red Bull's engine ban push 'amusing'

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Driver profile

Team profile