After a long summer vacation, a tantalizing battle awaits at the Dutch Grand Prix in the center of the Formula 1 madness. The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen has extended beyond the racetrack, and the motorsports world has been anticipating their showdown for a very long time. As the tension builds, a fresh development in the story takes place that puts the subsequent fight in an even brighter spotlight. And after getting a surprise boost in the battle, Sir Lewis Hamilton has ambitions with the W-14, which he expects to perform better on the Zandvoort track, after a positive result in P1. Will the expectations be met?

The 38-year-old appeared just as fresh as before, and he was ready to offer everything he had at the first practice. However, the untimely red flag forced him to stop and evaluate the W-14’s full potential. The Mercedes Maestro subsequently slipped down a position to P2 after placing third in P1. Nevertheless, despite the varied outcomes of the practice session, Hamilton is optimistic about closing the gap with the blistering Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton sets expectations with the W-14

The Dutch Grand Prix is renowned for its long, winding corners where overtaking other drivers can be troublesome. However, rather than concentrating on anything in particular, Hamilton had set his objective to shorten the distance with Max Verstappen. The seven-time champion remained 0.308 seconds behind pacesetter Lando Norris. But knowing that Max Verstappen is within reach has given him hope.

And Mr. Optimist was discovered making plans for Sunday in the post-practice interview. According to a clip by @LH44_insights, when a reporter quizzed Hamilton to tell his expectations, the Mercedes ace said, “Want to get as high up as possible, because then it’s not so easy to overtake here. So we’ll be gunning for as high up qualifying as possible. It would be great to be able to be in the top three in qualifying. It just depends on the job that we do tonight,” making it clear that the qualifying will remain an important aspect for Sunday’s main GP.

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The dominance of Max Verstappen has caused headaches for all the teams. In addition, the financial cap has made it very challenging to catch the powerful Red Bull. Even though that doesn’t stop the teams from making any efforts to pass the Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton has teamed up with two more victims of Max Verstappen’s uncanny dominance.

Hamilton finds two allies to take on Max Verstappen “off” the track

Verstappen and the team have been unstoppable since F1 introduced the 2022 rule changes. With the exception of a few encounters with Charles Leclerc, Verstappen hasn’t even given any team the slightest chance of evading him. This season he won 10 races thanks to his incredible talent. Eight of them were victories in a row.

Looking at the Dutchman’s dominance, Lewis Hamilton earlier showed his hypocrisy. However, not just the Mercedes took a hit; the Ferrari, which had been out of the top spots, also attacked. The supernatural superiority forced Ferrari wonder-boy Charles Leclerc to admit, “We don’t have a rule change coming up, so I’m going to hope [a continued Red Bull dominance] is not the case.”

On top of this, Hamilton flavored the Monegasque while offering his backing. He said, “They are 100-200 points ahead in the championship, so it is very, very possible that Charles [Leclerc] could be right.” Although Carlos Sainz, as usual, attempted to maintain objectivity, the Spanish driver expressed his feelings of worry by criticizing Ferrari in an indirect manner and hurting Verstappen’s domination. The Spanish driver said, as per Autosport, “If my team had done what Red Bull has done, and I am doing the job that Max is doing.”

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Aside from a demonstration of pure speed, the Dutch Grand Prix promises to be a demonstration of unwavering spirit. The attention has been drawn to this battle of titans by Hamilton’s daring claim and the Mercedes W-14’s fresh vitality. So will that be a threat to Max Verstappen and Co.?