Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes and McLaren can mount a title challenge in the second half of the season, because of Sergio Perez’s struggles at Red Bull.
The Silver Arrows went into the summer break on the back of three wins in four races, with George Russell triumphing in Austria, Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix and taking top spot in Belgium after his teammate’s disqualification.
Mercedes’ three wins came either side of Oscar Piastri’s victory in Hungary, McLaren’s second win of the season and the ninth consecutive race the Papaya had one driver on the podium – a streak which was extended to 10 in Belgium.
Red Bull, meanwhile, last finished top of the podium when Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23.
But despite Mercedes and McLaren’s renaissance, Verstappen remains 78 points clear of his closest challenger, Lando Norris, in the drivers’ standings.
Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri are respectively 100 and 110 points adrift, while Hamilton trails Verstappen by 128 points.
Perez’s struggles have hampered Red Bull
Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship, however, is far more fragile as the Milton Keynes-based team is only 42 points ahead of McLaren. The Papaya trailed Red Bull by 115 points going into the Miami Grand Prix in May, where Norris secured his maiden Formula 1 win.
Ferrari is 63 points behind Red Bull, while Mercedes trail its rivals by 142 points.
Worryingly for Red Bull, while Verstappen has been scoring points consistently, he’s received little support from Perez, who hasn’t finished on the podium since the sprint race in Miami.
And Hamilton, who will join Ferrari next season, believes Perez’s lack of form could see Red Bull’s rivals close the gap even further.
“It is not impossible, but it is a huge, challenging task, but absolutely not impossible,” the seven-time world champion said this week.
“They’ve got two very strong drivers that are able to compete against, ultimately currently in the championship, one car that’s really up there doing a lot of the points scoring on the other side.
“So they’ve got something they can work with there, for sure.”
Title fight could go down to the last race
Earlier this week, McLaren CEO Zak Brown also suggested Red Bull’s bid for a third consecutive constructors’ crown could be under threat from its rivals.
McLaren last won the constructors’ championship in 1998, but Brown was confident his team can mount a sustained challenge in the second half of the season, which resumes on August 23 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
“It’s going to be tough,” Brown told BBC Sport.
“I think it’s going to come down to the last race. There’s not much between the cars. It’s gonna come down to how does Sergio Perez perform?
“If he can perform as he’s capable of performing, it’s going to be a hard fight.
“If he continues to perform as he has this year, we have a pretty good chance, because we have two drivers constantly performing at the front.”
While Hamilton believes the constructors’ championship is up for grabs, he concedes Verstappen remains the overwhelming favourite to retain the drivers’ title.
“I think there was a time I was here where I was 40 or something points behind – 70 is a big number when you’re against a car that has probably very, very close to a 100 percent record,” the Briton said when asked of Norris’ chances to dethrone Verstappen.
When the Dutchman resumes his bid for a fourth consecutive title in front of his home crowd, he will have a target on his back.
