Lewis Hamilton Huge 'chasm' between pace of the Brit, Max Verstappen, and everyone else

Hungarian GP

Huge 'chasm' between pace of Hamilton, Verstappen, and everyone else

The gap needs to be bridged

Martin Macdonald

Tuesday 6 August 2019 15:45

The pace of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix was “astounding” says Ross Brawn, but the Liberty Media boss reckons it also displayed the huge difference in power, again, between the elite teams and everyone else.

The duo put on a masterclass in Budapest, as Verstappen led for the majority of the race only to be put under huge wheel-to-wheel pressure from Hamilton. The race moved in favour to the Brit after Mercedes gave him fresh tyres with 20 laps to go, which allowed him to make up the 19-second gap to P1 before overtaking for the win.

Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz impressed in behind, but they were all nowhere near the front two.

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“Carlos Sainz finished an impressive fifth and, along with rookie Lando Norris, McLaren is now firmly staking a claim on being the fourth best team,” Brawn wrote in his Formula1.com column.

“But its drivers were both lapped by the winner. Four drivers from four different teams were lapped twice and another driver was actually lapped three times.

“With Hamilton and Verstappen fighting for the duration of the race, the pace at the front was astounding from the first to the final lap, as that was the only way to win. However, it demonstrated the vast chasm in performance between the top three teams and the rest.

Brawn has long been a supporter of levelling the playing field so that the midfield have more of a chance of podium spots and wins, and he has again reiterated his desire to bridge the gap in pace.

“I’ve said it so often, but this gap must be reduced.” he insisted.

“It remains one of our main objectives for the future as, alongside the FIA, we continued to work on the 2021 regulations.

“It’s an ambitious goal, and it won’t happen overnight as we do not have a magic wand, but it has to be our central ambition, achieved via the three main areas of the rules: technical, sporting and financial.

“It’s a key theme for the future of this sport and I think we are all in agreement on this, starting with the fans, whom we must listen to, because, at the end of the day, they are our most important asset.”