Is Hamilton frustrated by Verstappen’s dominance? ‘Nothing I can do about it’
Two-time world champion Verstappen continued his charge to a third straight drivers’ crown as he equalled Ayrton Senna’s career total of 41 victories with a dominant win at the Canadian Grand Prix.
It marked Verstappen’s sixth triumph in eight races as the Dutchman maintained Red Bull’s unbeaten start to the season to extend his lead in the championship to 69 points over teammate Sergio Perez.
Hamilton was beaten to second place by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso but racked up his second podium in as many races in Mercedes’ upgraded W14.
When asked if there is a sense of frustration that he is currently unable to challenge Verstappen, the seven-time world champion answered: “It’s not a frustration anymore, if it ever was.
“You know how it is. You know what you are faced with and there’s nothing I can do about their amazing performance.
“It’s likely they will win every race moving forwards this year, unless the Astons and us put a lot more performance on the cars, or their car doesn’t finish.
“It’s not easy with the regulations to chip away or to find the amount of performance that they have advantage-wise.
“They’ve got to be 30 points up on us in certain points through the lap. We’ve got some work to do.
“It’s not that it’s frustrating. I’m happy to firstly be back in the mix and I’m hoping at some stage we can get back to some of the good races we had in 2021.
“To have all three of us in a super-tight battle would be sick.”
The trio of Verstappen, Alonso and Hamilton have a combined total of 11 world championships between them. Hamilton suggested it is the strongest top-three F1 has ever seen.
“It’s a privilege to be up here fighting these two, who have done incredible in their careers,” he said.
“This is quite an iconic top three. I don’t know if there’s been a top three like this ever before. I don’t believe there has.”
And the 38-year-old Briton hopes to enjoy closer fights with Verstappen and Alonso in the future.
“Hopefully they’ll be more,” Hamilton said. “There’s a huge respect between us and we are able to race so closely and trust in one another.
“So I really hope at some stage we will have a more level-playing field with our cars and can have much more exciting races in the future.”
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.
