Lewis Hamilton believes that Red Bull will probably remain in a league of its own in F1 for “the next couple of years”.
It's a dire prediction for Mercedes and for all of Red Bull's rivals, but it's a projection that doesn't align with the viewpoint of team principal Christian Horner."
Red Bull is on the verge of completing a stellar season, in which the has been victorious in every round bar one – last September’s Singapore Grand Prix, where Ferrari's Carlos Sainz secured the win.
The team claimed its sixth Constructors’ title while Max Verstappen – who secured his third world crown – rewrote the record books by becoming the most dominant driver in a single season, with the Dutchman’s current tally, with two races to go, standing at 17 wins this year.
Hamilton reckons that the magnitude of Red Bull’s supremacy – and the clear edge over its rivals enjoyed by the team’s dominant RB19 – will extend into 2024 and likely beyond.
“I think, ultimately, all I can do is try to remain optimistic,” replied the seven-time world champion when asked about Mercedes’ prospects for next season relative to Red Bull.
“The Red Bull I think is so far away. I think they're probably going to be very clear for the next couple of years.”
Undeniably, Red Bull’s ascendancy this season allowed the Milton Keynes-based outfit to start work early on its 2024 contender, a benefit over its rivals that could indeed help it sustain its edge over the next 24 months at least.
But Horner played down Hamilton’s prediction, insisting his team will see “diminishing returns” in the future while Red Bull’s adversaries play catch up.
“It's always difficult to read too much into those things,” Horner said last weekend in Brazil. “I think that it's a lot of world championships that are won in the windtunnel numbers at this time of year.
“I think that we've got a great car, we've got a great basis. We need to keep evolving it, but of course, the returns are going to diminish because you're hitting the top of the curve.
“And you can see it will concertina. It will become closer and that will stretch us more, for sure. But the team are very, very motivated. You can see nobody's let off since we won the championship. Everybody's still fully on it.”
Regardless of what the future may hold, Horner is making sure that his crews don’t slump into an easy-going routine.
And when a defeat pops up – like the one it suffered at the hands of Mercedes in Brazil last year – it serves as a powerful motivational moment, prompting a determination to delve deeper and strive for improvement.
“You have got to keep improving in all areas,” added Horner. “I think leaving this race [in Brazil] last year hurt, in that our performance wasn't as strong as we would have liked.
“We felt we didn't get the set-up right. So we learned the lessons from last year and we applied them well, and focused a car on the race.
“In the end, we came away with a pole, the sprint win and the Grand Prix, with a third and the fourth for Checo [Perez], so it's been a very strong weekend.”
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