Hamilton to challenge Verstappen again in next F1 season?
Nov.8 - Dr Helmut Marko has tipped Lewis Hamilton to be Max Verstappen's strongest championship challenger in 2023.
This year, the early strong challenge came from Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, but ultimately Red Bull's Verstappen wrapped up the title with races to spare.
"Leclerc was very strong in qualifying," Red Bull official Marko, 79, told the German broadcaster ntv. "But he was prone to making mistakes.
Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W13 following Max Verstappen in the RB18 around Mexico City
"I see (Lewis) Hamilton as a stronger challenger for 2023. He has a clear advantage in terms of experience, he can motivate himself incredibly well and I'm also convinced that Mercedes will put a better car on the track next year."
At the same time, however, Marko thinks back-to-back world champion Verstappen is still getting better.
"He drives more confidently than ever with more overview of the race overall. At the same time he has developed into a tyre whisperer," he said.
"He drives on a soft tyre for longer than his competitors on a harder compound. I haven't seen his limit yet.
"He gets in the car and is so confident from the first practice session - from the first lap. When it's wet, he's two seconds faster than the rest of the field on the first laps.
"All he needs is very good grip at the front - what the rear is doing doesn't affect him that much. That only makes the other drivers nervous.
"You saw in the early stages this season that Max was as fast as (Sergio) Pérez in a car that didn't suit his driving style. Once the car fit, he was half a second faster."
As for this weekend in Brazil, Marko tips Ferrari to bounce back after having to "reduce performance in Mexico due to turbo problems".
As for Mercedes, Hamilton's team has "definitely gotten better lately, especially in qualifying".
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That's it the Doc has lost the plot,of course hes playing with Merc and Ferraris heads all part of , hes basically saying come on guys catch us if you can, its a double shot of doubting juice for Lucy's head as well as he gets another year slower and older, what the Doc fails to say is that now King George has got his hand in , only 0.1 sec slower overall in quali this year hell be quicker too, and we all know first person to beat is your team mate.
To be honest shropp I'm just a little bit peaved, Max still doesn't seem to recognised as world champion what whth 2021 saga and now the overspend on the budget cap over shadowing 2022 season & still sir Lulu's in the limelight,, what has that guy got that attracts all the attention.
No, he shared half a WDC with Masi in 2021 (officially human error) and half a WDC in 2022 for using a car developed from breaking the budget rules in 2021 (official too).
Add the two together and you get the 1 WDC.
As Long as the girls wont accept it, hell keep getting airtime, but it fades remember that, hes so in with the Fia(shit scared) and Merc (locked into a contract they cant get out of) and sky (sky are doing it for skys benefit) with his campaigns, they HAVE to give him airtime unfortunately, i'm not saying his aims arent laudable but, hes using them like he uses instagram,, make me richer , make me richer, oh yeah and make me richer
Hopefully
Excuse me, gentlemen, it's not like Lewis challenged ANYONE this year. He did not even challenge Pretty Boy Russel in the same car and all of his SEVEN championships. The fact his Sainz challenged Lewis with a car that gave him plenty of real difficulty while Lewis never stopped whining about his little bobos...
I'll admit that Doc Marko is a great at pulling our legs!!! Really funny! HaHaHihi.
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