Hamilton teases Mercedes have “something in the pipeline” to catch Red Bull
Hamilton finished 24 seconds behind Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix to match his best result of the season.
The seven-time world champion led home teammate George Russell as Mercedes scored their first double podium of the year, a week after debuting their heavily-upgraded W14 car.
And Hamilton revealed Mercedes have more updates planned as the team look to reduce their deficit to reigning world champions Red Bull, who have won all seven races in 2023.
"With the current car we have I don't think we'll be matching their performance, but we are working on improving the car,” Hamilton said.
”With the current package we are limited to the pace that we had today, but there's a huge amount of work and studying and improvements that we hopefully will have coming in the future.
"Naturally they should probably also be progressing through the year, so we need to be taking big chunks out of them with every step we take.
"Today they were a good few tenths ahead of us, maybe half a second ahead of us per lap. On a single lap that's a little bit bigger.
“But I think we are going in the right direction and I know we have something in the pipeline moving forwards.”
Hamilton, who is set to hold contract talks with Toto Wolff today, said he is focused on ensuring Mercedes start 2024 on level terms with Red Bull.
"I'm hoping at least by the end of the year it would be great if we could challenge them,” the 38-year-old added.
“But I would say I'm more focused on making sure that we have the car next year to challenge them from day one.
"The further we continue to push this car this year, the more that impacts next year also in some ways. The more we learn about this car also sets us in the right direction. It's trying to find the right balance.
"They [Red Bull] are so far ahead and ultimately Max will continue to win this year.
"That means they can start on their development for next year sooner and earlier than everyone else if they haven't already and that's the danger.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
