Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has expressed his amazement at the speed with which his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen demonstrated in the French Grand Prix, round 12 of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
Verstappen advanced to pole position at Paul Ricard after his Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc withdrew, with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton second.
Leclerc’s withdrawal, following an accident, led to the entry of the safety car and thus reduced the difference between all competitors.
This left Hamilton directly behind Verstappen when the race continued, with the 7-times world champion looking to rival Verstappen in pursuit of a pole position and victory in his first race of the 2022 season.
However, Verstappen managed to widen the gap at a very fast pace, moving away from the lead with an additional victory that extended the gap to 63 points over his nearest rival.
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“I tried to keep up with Max Verstappen’s pace after the safety car, but he was too fast,” said Hamilton.
He continued: “I might have been close to him for a few laps, but I was pushing as hard as I could, and yet he could comfortably widen the gap.”
He added, “I think we were far behind on the straight lines, I was losing about 0.4 Th was only in those straight lines, and I could not come up with any solutions to address this weakness.”
He continued: “We must work to address this in the future. I am confident that our performance will be better in the next rounds and on different tracks.”