21 October 2023 , 23:16
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Lewis Hamilton thinks it will be possible to get the better of Max Verstappen in Sunday's United States Grand Prix – but knows it will be very difficult.
The Brit managed to push his Formula 1 rival hard in the opening laps of the Sprint race on Saturday. But the Red Bull star soon roared off into the distance as he managed to look after his tyres more effectively.
Verstappen was soon out of reach, but Hamilton comfortably finished second ahead of Charles Leclerc. And he was delighted to get the better of the Ferrari star on the opening lap.
"That was a really fun race," he declared with a beaming smile. "Good start down to turn one and good battle with Charles, and then I was trying early on to get closer to Max, but their pace is just undeniable at the moment.
"But I'm happy that we're a little bit closer. We've still got a long way to go to keep the pace that he was doing throughout the race but, nonetheless, I'm happy to be back on the podium."
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Leclerc will start on pole in the Grand Prix with Hamilton third, just as he was for the Sprint. He will hope to repeat the trick two days in a row and will feel confident of having less tyre degradation than the Ferraris.
Lando Norris starts between the two of them and will have ambitions of his own with McLaren looking strong again. And Verstappen will almost certainly make his way through to fight at the front despite starting a little further back in sixth.
Verstappen's race pace in the Sprint blew everyone away. But one thing that the rather dull short-form race taught everyone is that it is quite difficult to overtake on this track in these cars, so that will raise the hopes of those ahead of the Dutchman that they might have a chance of keeping him at bay.
Hamilton stopped short of saying he thinks that could happen, but did not close the door entirely on the idea of finally ending his long victory drought. "It will be helpful for us at the front," he replied when reminded that Verstappen starts further back than usual.
"Ultimately, I think he will be breathing down our necks before too long, with the pace that he had today. But I think it will open up for a good fight with Charles and Lando. We're all quite similar in pace so, hopefully, we'll get to have a good battle tomorrow. If we can all keep Max behind then awesome, but if not then no worries."