Will Hamilton fight for the title this year? If he has a good car, he can win it, says Verstappen

The 2023 Formula 1 season is fast approaching. Teams are slowly revealing the shapes and colours of their monoblocs, interviews with drivers and team representatives are turning to the upcoming season. And Max Verstappen underwent one of those when he unveiled this year’s Red Bull. How did he answer the question of whether Lewis Hamilton can challenge for the championship?

The 2022 Formula One season ranks as one of the best ever in terms of the last decade. The title was defended by a landslide by Dutchman Verstappen, who scored 454 points overall.

The battle for the final second place in the Drivers’ Championship between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez was eventually won by the former. Red Bull then ended Mercedes’ hegemony and dominated the Constructors’ Cup for the first time in many years.

What the season ahead will hold in terms of form and the position of the teams and drivers. That is a really big question at the moment, and there are not many predictions at the moment either.

And to answer the question of who will win the championship next year, we would really need a fortune teller.

Anyway, Verstappen was asked a similar question in a recent interview. A Sky Sports reporter asked him at the official Red Bull presentation whether Hamilton would be challenging for the overall championship after all.

Verstappen on Hamilton

The reporter asked Verstappen, among other things, whether he still sees the seven-time champion as a threat.

“Of course he is, he was one of the best drivers in the history of the sport… so for sure, if he has the car, he can fight for the title again,” the Red Bull driver replied in an interview with Sky Sports.

“But the same for George, the same for Charles, the same for Lando. If you give them a car that is capable of winning the championship, they can do it,” Verstappen concluded.

Who will come up with the best concept this year? Which teams will be able to fight for the win and which driver can realistically think about winning the title? We will be able to derive a partial answer from the results of the pre-season tests, although we will have to wait until the first few races of the new season to see the teams’ true form.

F1, Sky Sports