Lewis Hamilton reveals fears about size of Red Bull gap

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton reveals fears about size of Red Bull gap

Seven-time world champion looks ahead to Friday practice

Stuart Hodge

Friday 3 March 2023 09:57

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Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will find out just how big their 2023 challenge is in Bahrain on Friday.

The seven-time world champion voiced his fears about just how big a mountain the Silver Arrows will need to climb when he faced the media on Thursday.

The speculation is that Red Bull has a sizeable advantage over Hamilton and co, and the 38-year-old superstar himself believes it is "not insignificant".

Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes 2023 hopes

He said: "We know now where the car is lacking, what areas in particular we need to work on, we have a much better foundation (than 2022) to work from.

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"However there is a gap, you'll see that over the next day or so. I'm not gonna say what it is because we don't truly know. But it's definitely not insignificant."

The W14 appears to be lagging behind Red Bull

Despite that gloomy forecast, Hamilton hailed the work Mercedes has done over the winter in attempting to get everything ready to challenge for titles again.

"I've been really encouraged to see - 11 years with this team - just to see how focused everybody is, how engaging everybody is. Same as every time, and just how diligent everyone has been in terms of focusing on what they can fix. I feel like communication has been better.

"The team is stronger and better than it's ever been, we just need the car to reflect that and that's what we're working towards."