For the longest time in this sport, Lewis Hamilton was the man to beat. Since 2014, the Silver Arrows with Hamilton strapped into the car was an unbeatable combination. That being said, naturally, he had a target on his back. In 2021, Max Verstappen was arguably aiming for it. And as all good things come to an end, Hamilton’s reign at the very top of Formula 1 did too. But the 38-year-old was always keen to fight back. And during the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, he finally felt like he could.

Starting from third in the race, Hamilton quickly made the jump on Verstappen. Even though Verstappen got Hamilton back eventually, the fact that the Brit stuck behind the Dutch lion for the majority of the race with a respectable margin was enough to give the 7x champion some hope of a foreseeable comeback.

Lewis Hamilton was eyeing that winning feeling again

After the Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked about his perspective during the whole race and how he coped with a chaotic Australian Grand Prix. He said, “I mean it was kind of, I’ve been doing this for a really long time so,” as quoted on BBC Radio 5’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast. Safe to say, his years of experience really paid off this time around.

He then went on to explain, “It was kinda textbook really. I don’t know, stay composed. I really felt being in shooting range of a win is something that I’ve not had in forever so, that really felt I could smell it, I could feel it was just right ahead of me. But of course I knew that it would be really hard to beat Max”

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During the race, Verstappen obviously finally led the way to a comfortable race victory. However, the sole fact that Mercedes were ever even in contention for that elusive race victory gives Lewis Hamilton a ton of satisfaction and a hint of hope.

During the FIA’s post race conference, he said, “It was very unexpected. Obviously just coming into the weekend, but obviously, also getting a second and third and qualifying yesterday really blew us all away and a huge boost of energy throughout the team.”

“So that meant today we had a shot at, you know, trying to at least overtake Max for a second. And so, we both got ahead, which was amazing. To have a Mercedes one-two for a second. And obviously he came sailing by at one stage, but it was a really entertaining race.”

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Can Lewis Hamilton regularly take the fight to Max Verstappen in 2023, Australia onwards?