Lewis Hamilton buries Sergio Perez with brutal comments about Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton wants to see Max Verstappen challenged more at the front of the grid.
Lewis Hamilton has mocked Sergio Perez for not putting up much of a fight to Max Verstappen despite being in the same car, insisting he would fair much better. Verstappen has been the dominant driver at Red Bull ever since Sebastian Vettel left the Milton Keynes-based team.
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Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have been and gone with Perez arriving as Verstappen's newest team-mate from the 2021 season. The Mexican was praised within the Red Bull garage for his help in Verstappen beating Hamilton to the Drivers' Championship in his first year with the team.
Verstappen didn't need any help in 2022 as he romped to a second consecutive title with even more pressure mounting on Perez to compete with the Dutchman heading into this season. After a promising start where Perez won two of the four opening races, his performances suddenly nose-dived and he's found himself 125 points behind Verstappen heading into the summer break.
Mercedes have had to watch from the sidelines as Red Bull have won every race this season with Verstappen a level above the rest. But Hamilton feels he would make it much tougher for Verstappen than Perez has done this year if they were in the same car.
"Do I want to be as fast as him [Verstappen]? Of course," Hamilton said. "Would I like to have a car as fast as him? Of course. If I was in Sergio's car, Max would not be having the same time he's having now."
"But of course that's not the case. One day we will challenge them again. We are taking steps, but small ones for now. We look forward to taking the bigger step and fighting for the top two."
It's up to Mercedes and the rest of Red Bull's rivals to close the gap and bring an end to Verstappen's era of dominance.
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There have been promising signs from Mercedes in recent months as Hamilton was able to take his first pole position since 2021 at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix. And the British racing superstar is hopeful his team are on the right track to be more competitive next year.
"We’ve been making big steps," he said. "I think our biggest step we took was when we got to Monaco and the car has really progressed.
"Better understanding of where to position your car, it’s been a lot more consistent, more podiums or top-five finishes and generally getting solid reliability. So there’s lots and lots of good bits, but the car balance we’ve still got to work on and we need more downforce as we always do."
