Motor racing-‘I’ve never seen a car so fast’, says Hamilton of Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton, seven-time Formula One champion and winner of a record 103 Grands Prix, expressed surprise on Sunday over Max Verstappen’s speedy Red Bull car. In the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen made his way up from 15th on the grid to come in second, overtaking Hamilton en route. Sergio Perez, another Red Bull driver, came in first during the race. Hamilton referred to Verstappen’s car as the fastest he had ever seen, and noted that it was much quicker than cars from other teams. He revealed that the speed difference was so great, he did not even try to block Verstappen’s move. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the second consecutive race where Red Bull clinched the first and second positions. Even in Bahrain, their only missed point was for the fastest lap.

Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, commented before the race that Red Bull had a one-and-a-half-second advantage per lap. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, George Russell, likewise gave credit to Red Bull, saying that he could envision them winning all their races. Observing the grand gap between Red Bull and other teams, Russell likened it to the distance between Mercedes and the rest of the field back in 2014, when Mercedes won eight Constructors’ titles in a row. Hamilton, who won six of his seven championships with Mercedes, conceded that Red Bull has the fastest car on the track. Nevertheless, Russell believes that Mercedes is capable of recovering some of its performance, even though the team had made poor choices during the off-season.

Alan Baldwin reported from London, and Pritha Sarkar edited this piece.

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