Lewis Hamilton is hoping he and Valtteri Bottas can work together to beat Max Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman produced a brilliant lap to take his first Formula 1 pole in Budapest on Saturday but now faces an envious task of keeping the two Mercedes’ at bay in the race.
Well aware of that fact, Hamilton, who starts from third, wants strategy to be used to pin Red Bull into a corner and hopefully for his benefit.
“We’re in a good position in terms of working as a team tomorrow. We’re in a fortunate position, potentially, if we can hold on to Max to be able to work together to pull him closer to us and give him a bit of a run for his money,” he said.
“It’s a little bit harder when you’re on your own at the front in the team because you can come under attack from undercuts and all this sort of thing.
“We’ll see how that plays out but we’ve got a long run down to Turn 1 so hopefully we will have a nice long battle down there and then after that, it’s down to team tactics.”
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It was after Budapest last year though that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described Valtteri Bottas as the perfect ‘wingman’ for Hamilton.
But with the pair now contesting for the championship, the Finn admits he won’t be doing anything to directly help his teammate in the race.
“Obviously we are both also racing for our own result but also working as a team will benefit both of us so it should be interesting tomorrow,” he commented.