For over 2.5 years, Lewis Hamilton failed to grab victory at any of the Formula 1 Grands Prix. But, in a fruitful twist of fate, the 7-time World Champion recently won his 104th race at his home circuit. The British GP victory has made Hamilton the only racer with 9 wins at a single race track in F1. However, while everyone has been cheering for the Briton over his historic achievement, Red Bull Chief Advisor Helmut Marko is not convinced. The Austrian believes the climate in Britain favored Mercedes and thus, paved the way for Lewis to win.

Red Bull might be the leading force in the World Constructors’ Championship right now. But their rivals, McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari, are attacking this lead in every race. Even with its super-fast RB20, the Austrian outfit has not managed to build a huge gap to the other squads like it did in the previous seasons in F1. In one of his interviews, Marko dealt with the question of whether Mercedes’ back-to-back wins in Austria (where George Russell topped the charts) and in Britain are a reason for him to worry. The octagenarian claimed the Silver Arrows can only win at tracks that have cool temperatures.

Now, the Hungarian GP is right around the corner. And if what the forecasts say holds true, then it will be one of the hottest races this year, which means Mercedes would have difficulty with the W15’s tires in the Hungarian heat, as per Helmut Marko’s statement. Lewis Hamilton has also attested to Marko’s prediction as he finished the free practice sessions on Friday in Budapest. In FP1, Russell took the fourth place while Hamilton was way down in P10. In the second round of FP, Russell dropped to the fifth spot while Hamilton improved by 3 places.

Once the FPs were over, Lewis Hamilton gave an interview at the end of the first day of the Hungarian GP weekend. There, he confirmed Marko’s premonitions about Mercedes‘ lack of performance in the hot climate at the Hungaroring. He said, “It [driving the W15] felt just as bad as it does normally when it’s hot.” The soon-to-be Ferrari racer also elaborated on his current team’s approach for the World Constructors’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton fears Red Bull might be “light years ahead” in Hungary

The FP sessions on Friday have shown that Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes could not match the performance of his rivals’ racecars in the hot climate in Budapest. But the Silver Arrows have a game plan to tackle its rivals despite the heat. Speaking on the strategy that his squad is focusing on right now, Hamilton said, “We’re like, ‘it’s game on! We’re fighting, we’re chasing, and we’re going to try and win as many races as George mentioned or compete for as many wins as possible.”

However, Lewis has refused to let his resounding victory in Great Britain a few weeks ago get to his head. He spoke about the glaring possibility of Max Verstappen in his RB20 or Lando Norris in his MCL38 outperforming him at the Hungaroring this Sunday, saying, “It may turn out this weekend that the Red Bull is still light years ahead, or the McLaren is, who knows?” Currently, Mercedes stands a mere 74 Championship points shy of catching up with McLaren to get the third place in the Constructors’ Standings. And ahead of the papaya army, Ferrari has an advantage of only 7 points.

Thus, if the Silver Arrows can perform consistently, their road to the second spot on the teams’ rankings does not look too far away. Do you presume that Mercedes can take on this challenge and accomplish this feat by the end of 2024? Comment below.