The latter caused the necessary gloating at Red Bull. After last year’s heated battle, the British Mercedes team is now lagging far behind, while Verstappen – despite the car problems – has just won two more races.
When Red Bull CEO Helmut Marko appeared in front of the SkySports cameras after the race, he couldn’t resist giving a sneer. “What do you think is going through Hamilton’s mind right now?” asked the reporter. The 78-year-old Austrian replied: “He was put on a round by us, so maybe he thinks he should have stopped after last year.”
The 37-year-old Hamilton seemed to win his eighth world title in Abu Dhabi last year, with which he would become the only record holder. A crash by Nicolas Latifi and a safety car situation threw a spanner in the works, after which Verstappen won the World Cup for the first time.
Hamilton then withdrew for a while, but decided to get behind the wheel again this season. For the time being, however, things are not going well for him and his team. After four races he is only seventh with 28th points. The gap to Ferrari World Cup leader Charles Leclerc is already 58 points.