Formula 1 news: Leclerc and Verstappen concede in Hamilton chase
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen say they cannot catch up to Formula 1 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen failed to take advantage of a final lap blowout for Hamilton, in Sunday’s British Grand Prix having just gone into the pits himself in a bid to achieve the race’s fastest lap.
Leclerc and Verstappen give up the ghost
Ahead of the season there were hopes that Red Bull could close the gap to Mercedes but after four rounds Verstappen does not believe it is realistic to think that his Red Bull will be able to match or better Hamilton’s Silver Arrow.
With Verstappen and Leclerc on the podium, the pair were asked if the believed Hamilton could be caught.
Verstappen, the runner up on Sunday, didn’t waste any syllables and simply said: “No.”
Leclerc was in slightly more talkative mood insisting that the driver’s world championship is a two horse race between Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“If the question is ‘can anybody stop Lewis?’ then, no. I think the guy that has some chances is Valtteri, but that’s it,” the Ferrari driver said.
Bottas had kept the pressure up on Hamilton throughout the British Grand Prix before a late puncture saw him drop out of the points and fall 25 points behind his teammate.
“Of course, it’s not ideal,” Bottas said after the race.
“For the moment, if everything goes to the plan with the calendar, there are going to be more than 10 races, but we just don’t know.
“The best bet would be to be on top of the points all the time, so it’s a big loss of points. This kind of thing we can’t really afford, but obviously Lewis had a good race, but he also got away [with it] in a way.
“What can I do? What can I say? It’s not ideal, but I can’t change
what has happened. I’ve just got to move on and take the learning and try again next weekend.
“I’ll keep pushing and believing because you never know.”
Hamilton wants a challenge
Hamilton appears to be cleaning house in a bid to equal Michael Schumacher’s world record seven Formula 1 championships this season, but he said he would welcome more competition.
“I’m a through and through racer at heart,”he said. “I’ve grown up, particularly in karting, where you’ve got the wheel-to-wheel racing and that’s what has always excited me.
“That’s what gets me up in the morning. This is not the championship fight I would have hoped for. I’d much, much prefer to be having a super-close battle with these two here (Verstappen and Leclerc) because that’s what gets me going.
“I really, really hope that in future it’s closer.”
“It’s the rules. Ultimately every team is given rules and at the end of the day we’ve just done an exceptional job collectively and you can’t fault my team for that. That’s not our fault.”
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