Lewis Hamilton worries Red Bull could enter Mercedes-style dominant era

Lewis Hamilton is concerned Red Bull are “already” on their way to a Mercedes-esque era of dominance.

Although last season the Briton gave Max Verstappen a hard time on track and in the standings, momentum swinging between the two protagonists, this season Mercedes have fallen out of the running with their bouncing, zero-pod W13.

Ferrari briefly looked set to challenge but that, as said, was brief with Verstappen racing to a 93-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

Red Bull, with 475 points, are cruising in the Constructors’, 118 points up on Ferrari and a further 41 ahead of Mercedes. Should they win the teams’ trophy, it will be the first time since 2013 it has not gone to Mercedes.

But more worrying than the gap in the standings is the one on track with Verstappen racing from 14th on the grid to first at Spa, taking the chequered flag by 18 seconds.

He was also six tenths of a second faster than anyone else in qualifying, with Hamilton admitting on the day “1.8 seconds behind is a real kick in the teeth”.

With Verstappen again down as favourite to win this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, that would bring his tally to 10 with only one driver – Hamilton – having ever won 10 or more and gone on to lose the championship.

The seven-time former World Champion fears this is just the beginning for Verstappen and Red Bull.

“The chances are very high that that’s already happened,” he said to the BBC. “They are already on that way.

“It will be very tough for teams to close that gap.”

He also backtracked on his 2011 comments calling Red Bull just an “energy drink” company.

“I’ve said in the past about the team, I didn’t mean it in a negative way,” he told Motorsport.com. “I think years ago I said something about them being a drinks company, and I was just really highlighting you would bet more on a car company, but they have proved me wrong — and everyone.

“I think in general the team have had very good cars. They were good with great ride height and had more drag than before.

“They have experienced this year that their engine isn’t slower than others, that it was more they had a lot more drag in the previous years. They have done a fantastic job.”

But while talking up Red Bull, the Briton is still hoping Mercedes get it right and claim a win before the end of this season.

His concern is Red Bull will only get faster next year so Mercedes need to make inroads now.

“If your car is fast one year, it evolves into a faster car the next year, so the gap they have now will be very hard for anyone from third downwards to ever close in this cycle of car design,” Hamilton said.

“But we have won the last eight World titles. As a team, we’ve got amazing and talented engineers. I don’t doubt they can.

“There are limitations with budget and wind tunnel and CFD time and we have to be very clear and precise in the direction we want to go in and very efficient in our time.”