Lewis Hamilton says that if his all-out fight with Red Bull's Max Verstappen in Bahrain is anything to go by, he'll have grey hair by the end of the 2021 season.
At Sakhir last weekend, F1 fans were treated to an epic showdown between Hamilton and Verstappen in which the Mercedes driver had the last word, but just over his arch-rival.
The blistering fast Dutchman, who had qualified on pole by a comfortable margin, pulled out all the stops to catch and even briefly overhaul the reigning world champion on last Sunday evening, but Hamilton used all his experience and skills to keep the Red Bull charger at bay to secure his 96th career win in F1.
However, the apparent superiority of Red Bull's RB16B over Mercedes' W12 implies that Verstappen will be back with a vengeance at Imola in two weeks. But that's a prospect that Hamilton is relishing.
"I'm super excited and super happy for the fans, that they are excited," said the Briton after his narrow win. "I think it’s something that all the fans have wanted for a long time.
"Of course, this is only one race, so we don’t know what the future holds.
"With the pace they have, they could be ahead a lot more, but we’re going to work as hard as we can to try and stay close in this battle and I hope for many more of these sorts of races with Max and Valtteri.
"There’s a long way to go, 22 races. Holy crap! I’ll be grey by the end of this!"
Although Mercedes has endured a few worthy challenges during F1's hybrid era, the Brackley squad has always emerged victorious from its battles, collecting seven consecutive F1 Constructors' titles since 2014.
But Hamilton fears that his team and himself will need to work twice as hard this season to uphold the manufacturer's flawless track record.
"Honestly, I don’t recall how close the other seasons were exactly but this has got to have started off as one of the toughest, if not the [toughest]," said the Briton.
"I think Red Bull’s pace is incredibly strong, as you could see. We can’t match them in qualifying right now.
"That’s a big, big step for us but obviously I thought we could get closer within the race – but that was a little bit too close for my liking."
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