Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Formula 1 driver, insists that the team needs to focus on next year car. He wants the team to take “eye a little bit off the ball” this year and start their efforts on 2024 F1 car to match its rival, Red Bull.
Max Verstappen won the race at Canadian Grand Prix, which helped Red Bull to celebrate its 100th race win. He won the race with a margin of 9.57 seconds over Fernando Alonso who was driving Aston Martin.
Initially, Hamilton tailed Verstappen with a stunning start. However, he could only manage third on the podium.
The seven times world champion observed the strength of its rival team car. Verstappen extended the gap through major acceleration zones. Hamilton believes that the RB19 enjoys rear axle strength that helps in extending its lead.
The British driver trusts the team is “definitely getting closer” with its W14 upgrades. However, he believes its rival team Red Bull is probably focused on 2024 car. Therefore, he wants his team to not dig deep further into W14 and rather focus on next year.
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He said: “It’s been a great weekend. Very difficult with the conditions. But loving being in the car now with the car in a better window and a bit more on the right track.
“For us to be up there, having battles with Fernando in the Aston, and being on the second row, it’s been great. To be on the podium two races in a row is really fantastic for us.
“We were also running fourth in Monaco, so we’re definitely getting closer. And it’s going to be a battle of development over the rest of the season.
“I reckon Max’s team are already working on next year’s car, so we need to take our eye a little bit off the ball and focus on next year also but happy to be up there.”
Despite his believe that RB has moved onto 2024, he insists the Milton Keynes squad “will win every race” for the rest of year. Nonetheless, he is not frustrated on the prospect.
He added: “It’s not a frustration anymore, if it ever was… There’s nothing I can do about their amazing performance.
“It’s likely that 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.
