Lewis Hamilton anticipates it will be tough for Mercedes in the next few F1 rounds, but takes motivation from being in fight despite not maximising on results.
At Monza and Sochi, Mercedes were talked about to capitalise on the circuits that suits them more than the remaining ones in the 2021 F1 calendar. In terms of the drivers’ title fight, they could only make up seven points to retake the lead by two.
The win for Hamilton in Sochi helped them do it, but the slender margin still puts him in danger against Verstappen. Out of the seven circuits coming up, two are unknowns and from among the five, none are adjudged as the firm favourite on Mercedes side.
But Hamilton wasn’t looking just at Monza and or Sochi, where they haven’t maximed in 2021, he feels they lost out in many occasions. Despite those, he and the team still is in a firm fight, which is what is motivating them for the rest of the season.
“It’s not only the two races, there’s been plenty of races where we’ve not maximised, as a team, collectively, both drivers and everyone but we’re still in a fight and we can continue to improve,” said Hamilton. “There are definitely things that we will try and do better moving forwards but we just won’t give up, we’ll just keep trying, keep pushing, remain hopeful and just do the work.”
When asked about the chances they have considering that they are now in the fag end of the 2021 F1 season, Verstappen was straight up terming it as a ‘fighty-fighty, yes or no’ thing, while Hamilton elaborated a bit further on the toughness of the fight.
“Undoubtedly it’s going to be tough,” said Hamilton. “I think, for two thirds of the season so far they’ve had the edge. However, it’s obviously been difficult with all sorts of things, curve balls sent to both of us and our teams. There’s still everything to play for in these next races. I think they’ve got a good set of circuits coming up and I anticipate or just continue to be really close between us. Just got to be hopeful of some good races.”
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