F1 News
Mercedes must hope for a good result: 'Verstappen is inching away'
After nine races in 2021, it is clear that Red Bull Racing currently has the best chance of becoming world champions for the first time in the hybrid era. Together with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, they now hold the lead in both championships and don't look set to relinquish that lead any time soon, Damon Hill agrees.
"The competition looked like it would be very tight at the start of the season. In the first three or four races, there was not much between Mercedes and Red Bull and when I say that, I mean Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull," Damon Hill explained in conversation with Sky Sports.
Silverstone will be important
Toto Wolff said after the second race in Austria that a DNF from Verstappen would level the playing field between the Dutchman and Hamilton. Hill sees that it could just as easily fall the other way. "That works the other way around as well. It is looking like Max is inching away into the distance, just as he did in Austria."
Next week the F1 paddock travels to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, an important measure of whether Mercedes have the speed of Red Bull at the British circuit. "I think Silverstone will be an interesting one. It is a circuit where Lewis is very strong and Mercedes have been strong," Hill concluded.