Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is confident Lewis Hamilton will play a “factor” in this year’s Formula 1 season despite ongoing problems at Mercedes.
So far, Zilverpijlen’s performance has fallen very short compared to Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. Although the podium finishes in Bahrain and Australia, the results were modest. At Imola, the problems at Mercedes became apparent again. Lewis Hamilton was stuck in 13th on Sunday and one lap behind his rival and world champion, Max Verstappen.
Horner does not rule out Hamilton
Asked if he was surprised by Hamilton’s difficulties, Horner said: “He’s obviously had a terrible weekend, but he’s still an eight-time world champion…seven times! I forgot Nico Rosberg is. [in 2016] has won. He hasn’t forgotten how to drive the last four races, so at some point they’ll fix the problems and it’ll be a factor, but obviously the guys are doing really well.”
Focus on your sweat
Hamilton’s blue flags were flown for the first time in a long time at Imola. The driver he fought with for the world championship last year has him one lap behind this time. “I don’t think Lewis had a great weekend, but we are totally focused on our race and trying to get as many points. At one point we looked at the clouds. Was the rain coming in the latter part of the race or not? That’s what we were focusing on most.” .
