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Lewis Hamilton says the task Mercedes faces to beat Formula 1 title rival Red Bull at the Brazilian Grand Prix is now “as steep as it can be”.
Max Verstappen extended his drivers’ championship lead to 19 points with a comfortable victory in last weekend’s Mexican GP and Red Bull-Honda is now just one point behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings.
That form plus Verstappen and Red Bull winning F1’s last Brazilian GP in 2019 (pictured below) – at a time when it was only rarely on Mercedes’ pace – leaves Hamilton pessimistic about his chances this weekend.
“I would imagine it’s as steep as it can be,” he replied when asked how steep the task ahead felt.
“Their pace was phenomenal in the last race. They’ve had a strong car all year. They’ve had the strongest car actually, you can tell.
“I think we’ve done as well as we think we could. We’ll definitely be pushing this weekend to see if we can squeeze any more out of the car.
“Last time here they were incredibly strong so we’re anticipating again that they’ll be very hard to beat this weekend, but where there’s a will there’s a way.”
Hamilton intimated that part of Mercedes’ problem this year has been finding it harder to set its car up since the winter rule changes affecting the floor area.
“This year we’ve had our wings clipped, so it’s definitely been harder from an operational sense to maximise the car,” he said.
But he did also admit that he feels Mercedes is not alone in that position.
“What we’ll just try to focus on is getting the car in the right window, which is not easy. It’s not an easy car to set up,” he said.
“I think that’s probably similar for everyone.
“It’s just a bit harder to set up this year. It’s really difficult to explain and to go into in terms of details but it’s just harder to optimise.
“Some weekends it works, some weekends it doesn’t.
“To land on the ground with the simulations in the right place is just a little bit harder this year, but I think it’s similar for others.
“You saw in Austin for example, the Red Bulls were quite far off and then all of a sudden they switched it round.
“Getting the maximum potential out of the car has been hard this year.”
