Hamilton finally a winner? We have a chance to beat Verstappen in Mexico, Mercedes says

Lewis Hamilton believes he could finally win the upcoming Mexican Grand Prix. Already in the United States, the seven-time champion was confident of challenging for the win, and he says he will definitely try to attack the top spot in Sunday’s race.

Hamilton finished the US Grand Prix in second place behind Max Verstappen, but was unable to celebrate his 18 points. The race directors disqualified him and Charles Leclerc for excessive wear and tear.

However, the seven-time champion was confident of victory in the race, which was evident from his communication with the race engineer.

But Mercedes made a strategic error in Austin when they did not plan their driver’s pit-stop ideally. Hamilton clearly should have stopped just after Verstappen and Lando Norris completed their pit-stops.

However, the team kept him on track for the next three laps to take advantage of tyre life and stretch the first stint. However, this strategy proved to be flawed. Moreover, the 38-year-old Mercedes driver made an on-track mistake and lost precious time to the aforementioned pair.

A mistake on the track and a slower stop meant the following. Even on lap 16 of the US Grand Prix, Hamilton still had a 4.5-second lead over Verstappen. On lap 22, he was 6.5 seconds down after returning from the pits.

Hamilton believes he can beat Verstappen in Mexico

That time was missing for the current second man in the drivers’ championship at the end of the race. In fact, he picked up a very solid pace in the final stint – passing Leclerc, Norris and setting off to chase down Verstappen.

However, he was unable to close the gap completely as the laps wound down and eventually finished second. But only 2.2 seconds behind. With an ideally timed pit-stop, would he have had a realistic chance of winning?

“It would still have been close between all of us because I think we all had a similar pace. But yeah, I think we just lost too much time in extending the first stint, ” Hamilton said ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix.

As Mercedes have said, with an ideal strategy, their team leader has a realistic chance of attacking Verstappen in Mexico. But McLaren and Ferrari will also be looking to join in the fierce battle for victory.

Source: F1