Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes upgrade package arriving for the British Grand Prix won’t be enough to close the gap to current Formula 1 championship leaders Red Bull.
Mercedes is on its worst losing streak in the V6 hybrid era after failing to win any of the past five races, allowing Red Bull to open up a lead in both championships.
The Brackley-based outfit was unable to match Red Bull’s pace during the Austrian Grand Prix, paving way for Max Verstappen to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings to 32 points over Hamilton.
Although Mercedes revealed it will bring upgrades to Silverstone, Hamilton, a seven-time winner at his home event, isn’t convinced they will have a major impact in its bid to close the deficit to Red Bull.
“We have a little bit coming, but it’s not going to close the gap enough,” Hamilton said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “We’ve got to do some work.”
Red Bull has pressed on with developing its 2021 car as it seeks a first title since 2013, with its recent form giving Hamilton his longest run without a win since 2016.
Aware of how strong Red Bull has been of late, Hamilton is hoping Mercedes will be better suited on other circuits later in the season.
“These past races have been difficult, and obviously he’s pretty much just cruising ahead,” added Hamilton. “So, there’s not really much I can do about it.
“Of course, I’m praying for a different scenario in the next race, but if you look at their car, it’s just on rails. So we’re giving it absolutely everything.
“These past two weeks I’ve been to the factory, each week trying to extract as much as I can from the car. But our car just doesn’t go well here [in Austria] for some reason. I really hope that it does at these next ones.”
Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas agreed Austria hadn’t played to Mercedes’ strengths, but felt Silverstone’s high-speed nature could see a different outcome.
“We’ve been racing on the same track for two weeks and it is clear Red Bull is faster here – but it could be different on some other tracks,” Bottas said.
“I think this track suits their car pretty well, but they’re not slow anywhere else. Silverstone is completely different. There are a lot more high-speed corners and so, we’ll see.
“We have something planned in terms of new bits for Silverstone. I think after that it will be quiet in terms of new parts but we’ll keep pushing as hard as we can – but we know it’s going to be tough.”
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