Lewis Hamilton believes there is a “very high” chance Red Bull will dominate the next few years in Formula 1.
With 10 wins in 2022 so far, the Milton Keynes-based outfit is well on its way to a first double championship success since 2013 while Max Verstappen is set to make it back-to-back Drivers’ titles.
And after the Dutchman and Red Bull obliterated the field at Spa last weekend, Hamilton fears they could be unstoppable.
“The chances are very high that that’s already happened,” he told the BBC on if F1 is entering another period of one-team domination.
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“They are already on that way and it will be very tough for teams to close that gap.
“If your car is fast one year, it evolves into a faster car the next year, so the gap they have now will be very hard for anyone from third downwards to ever close in this cycle of car design.”
When asked if he had been impressed by Verstappen’s performances though, Hamilton arguably threw the same argument many have thrown at him in recent years…
“It’s more that I’m impressed with [chief technical officer] Adrian Newey and his team at Red Bull,” he said. “I think it is a great team; they’ve generally had really great cars for some time.
“Anything I’ve said in the past about the team, I didn’t mean it in a negative way.
“I think years ago I said something about them being a drinks company, and I was just really highlighting that you would bet more on a car company, but they’ve proved me wrong and everyone else.
“But also knowing that Adrian did his thesis on ground effect cars when he was at university, it’s no surprise what he has done and created this year. It is impressive but I believe in the young guns in my team and that we will catch up.”
Hamilton then elaborated on that final point, voicing his confidence that Mercedes can recover from their 2022 struggles.
“We have won the last eight World titles. As a team, we’ve got amazing and talented engineers. I don’t doubt they can [close the gap],” he said.
“There are limitations with budget and wind tunnel and CFD time and we have to be very clear and precise in the direction we want to go in and very efficient in our time.
“It is not as easy and simple as it was before. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get there.”