Hamilton threatened by 'super strong' rivals on top of Verstappen challenge

17 January 2024 , 17:22

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Lewis Hamilton intends to take the fight to Max Verstappen this year (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton has been warned that his Mercedes team may be usurped by a "super strong" McLaren outfit looking to take the fight to Red Bull.

It was Max Verstappen and his team who dominated Formula 1 last year. They won all but one of the 22 races held and no other team even came vaguely close to threatening their supremacy in the constructors' championship.

Their nearest challengers were Mercedes, but they scored fewer than half the number of points managed by Red Bull. Hamilton finished the year as the top driver from any of the other nine teams but, again, was a long way off runaway champion Verstappen.

The result means the seven-time world champion and his team will be seen by some as the most likely challengers to Red Bull this year. Jenson Button, however, has warned that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will threaten to become the leaders of the opposition.

"There are some seriously strong driver line-ups," the 2009 world champion told Sky Sports. "Mercedes, can't go past those two. I know Lewis, we were team-mates for three years, and for George [Russell] to get as close as he has to Lewis is impressive.

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"But in terms of the young guns at McLaren, super strong. Oscar with a year under his belt, he'll have more consistency going into the 2024 season. He had glimpses of greatness obviously but then consistency just wasn't there, I think he ended up with less than half the points of Lando.

"But coming into a second season he's got that under his belt, I think he'll be competitive. So those two drivers will definitely push McLaren forward a bit as well."

Red Bull's dominance and Mercedes' relative struggles have heavily restricted Hamilton in terms of his results. Not only has he not been in a championship fight for the last two years, but he is also without a single race win in that time.

It has led to some, such as David Coulthard, questioning whether the 39-year-old still has what it takes to mount a title challenge. But Button is adamant in his belief that his old McLaren team-mate will be able to deliver the goods if Mercedes can supply him with a quick enough car.

He added: "Lewis is as good as ever I would say in terms of his outright speed, but also now he seems much more comfortable in himself and confident in his ability, so he makes fewer mistakes. So he's even better now than he was five or six years ago."

Daniel Moxon