Hamilton “couldn’t fight” Verstappen for sprint race win

Lewis Hamilton said he had no realistic chance to keep Max Verstappen behind him as the pair fought for victory in today’s sprint race.

The Mercedes driver took the lead at the start of the race but Verstappen closed on him before half-distance. An error by Hamilton at the hairpin brought Verstappen within DRS range and the Red Bull driver passed him in the zone approaching the hairpin.

Hamilton was able to secure second place, despite Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull closing on him over the final laps. He called it “the best result I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’m super, super happy and grateful,” said Hamilton. “Of course we couldn’t fight the Red Bulls today. But this is a huge step, a huge improvement.”

He took advantage of rain in yesterday’s qualifying session to claim a place on the front row of the grid. “With the rain I think that really helped naturally.

“The race was tough and obviously if I was further back I would have struggled, perhaps, to progress. But I found out a lot about the car through this short stint of the race so I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Mercedes best result in a race this season before today was fifth place. Hamilton took heart from the result and is hopeful of a better result in qualifying for the grand prix later today.

“We’re still not as quick, I think, on a single lap, as obviously the Ferraris, the Red Bulls and I think the McLarens are ahead of us for sure,” said Hamilton. “And possibly the Astons. We’re probably very close, maybe, to the Aston’s, but we’ll see today.

“I don’t anticipate we’ll be fighting for the front row. But the fortunate thing is we can make some adjustments so hopefully I can improve the car in the next three hours and hopefully have a better qualifying session than we have had in the past.”

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