Following another dominant weekend from Max Verstappen in Belgium, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff discuss the Dutchman’s current run of dominant form as well as their own struggles during the Belgian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen stormed to yet another dominant victory in Spa-Francorchamps, finishing 22 seconds clear of teammate Sergio Perez despite starting in P6 following a gearbox penalty. Despite a strong start from his teammate to take the lead from Leclerc, Verstappen managed to fight his way back to the front by the end of lap 17.
“He is having a smoke and a pancake.”
The two-time champion’s current run of form led to questions being asked to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion replied in jest, referencing the movie Austin Powers Goldmember in comparison to the apparent ease at which Verstappen seems to win races.
“What do you want me to say? I haven’t spoken to him” Hamilton said. “He is having a smoke and a pancake. You know the film?”
“He’s just driving circles around everybody else on merit.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also weighed in on the topic of Verstappen’s dominance, noting that the Red Bull man has time to make jokes during races due to the extent of his advantage. Verstappen showed this on Sunday, jokingly suggesting to the team he make another pit stop towards the end of the race in order to allow the team to practice, such was the extent of his lead.
“He has all the reasons to be a little bit cheeky,” Wolff said. “He’s just driving circles around everybody else on merit. There’s nothing else to say about that. We’ve got to watch that, and as much as that is annoying, that’s just above the lot.”
“We’ve got to turn around the facts.”
Despise Verstappen being all but untouchable yet again during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Wolff noted the teams have overall moved closer together so far this season, noting the competitiveness between Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez throughout the Belgian Grand Prix, and comparing that to what was seen in recent years.
“I think when you compare to the rest, Spa was an awful race (in the past)” he added. “Before the last stop (Sergio) Perez, Leclerc and us were within six or eight seconds, and that is a major step for us because Spa was a disaster in 2022. We feel we’ve made that step, but then you’ve got that top guy who made another step in advance. It’s a fact, and we’ve got to turn around the facts.”
“There’s lots of positives to take from this weekend.”
Hamilton also weighed in on his battle with Leclerc which, despite his pace suggesting he would catch and potentially pass Leclerc as the race went on, eventually culminated in Leclerc beating Hamilton to take the final place on the podium.
“It always felt like he had an answer for all the laps I did,” Hamilton said of Leclerc. “They had the upper hand this weekend, I was trying, I was pushing a lot, had a lot of deg – particularly in the middle sector – but still got fastest lap at the end, there’s lots of positives to take from this weekend. We’ve got work to do naturally, as always.”
