Lewis Hamilton has said that it will be ‘tough but not impossible’ for Mercedes to catch Red Bull this season after a great drive saw him land second place at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Briton started in P3 at lights out in Melbourne with his team-mate George Russell in second alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen.
However, the Mercs were quick to get about the Dutchman with Russell taking the lead of the Grand Prix into turn one on the first lap and Hamilton easing past Verstappen at turn three to take P2.
Silver Arrows fans would have naturally been dreaming of a potential one-two to really give their season a boost after a slightly difficult start but, ultimately, Verstappen’s race pace was just too irresistible and he would come through victorious in the end, overhauling Hamilton after the first red flag period whilst Russell’s car went bang before the finish.
Even so, the Mercedes did look strong over the entire weekend and that will give them something to work with as the season pushes on, with Hamilton in an upbeat mood:
“Considering we’ve been down on performance, we’re clearly down on straight [line] pace compared to the Red Bulls, for us to be up here fighting with Aston is just amazing at this point in the season,” the seven-time champ said post race.
“We can close that gap. It’s going to be tough but not impossible. “I definitely didn’t expect to be second, so I’m super grateful for it. We just have to keep on fighting. A big, big thank you to all the people back at the factory.”
Ultimately the Red Bull car is still very much on another level to the rest of the field over the course of a race but there were positive shoots of optimism for Mercedes to try and cultivate moving forwards.
They are set to revamp multiple areas of the W14 for the coming races as we get closer to the European section of the campaign, and they’ll hope those tweaks will allow them to close the gap.
Certainly, seeing them on par with Aston Martin, who have started this season so well, suggests Merc are trending in the right direction, but obviously breaching that last deficit to Red Bull up at the top is the toughest task of all.
