Lewis Hamilton admits he’d ‘love to drive’ rival F1 car in Mercedes verdict

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Lewis Hamilton has now admitted that he ‘would love to’ drive the Red Bull RB19 after it dominated Formula 1 but winning with Mercedes again would feel more meaningful.

The 38-year-old produced just his second-ever winless F1 season this year as Red Bull and Max Verstappen swept the season. Hamilton had won at least one Grand Prix in each season spent in the pinnacle of motorsport since 2007. But he only took a podium six times in 2023.

His six podiums with three second-place results marked Hamilton’s lowest return since 2013 as Mercedes struggled again. The Silver Arrows started the year on the back foot after the team elected to continue with their no-sidepod concept. They only axed the concept in May.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominated F1 as Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes struggled

Red Bull, on the other hand, won all but one of the 22 Grand Prix held in 2023 with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz denying them a perfect season. The Spaniard capitalised on the Milton Keynes team’s struggles around the Marina Bay Circuit to win the Singapore GP from Lando Norris.

Verstappen even won 19 of the 22 Grand Prix this year with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez only able to win twice. The 26-year-old further won 10 in a row to set a new record winning streak. He even then also took seven wins in a row to finish this season – the third-best run.

Only Sebastian Vettel during the 2013 season had ever won more than seven Grand Prix in a row before Verstappen. Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari had also won seven in a row. But just Schumacher set his run of seven successive wins in a single season.

Lewis Hamilton admits that he ‘would love to’ drive the all-conquering Red Bull RB19

Hamilton’s career-best winning streak is just five Grand Prix victories in a row set during the 2014 and 2020 seasons. He is also now two seasons removed of winning a race having last stood atop the podium at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. But his longing to win remains strong.

The Stevenage-born star has now said that while he would love to drive the RB19, Hamilton would find winning in Red Bull’s all-conquering car inferior to winning with Mercedes again. He also sees helping the Silver Arrows return to the top as a better way to cement his legacy.

“Every driver here looks at the Red Bull car and would love to drive that car,” Hamilton said, via quotes from F1i.com. “I am not saying that I wouldn’t love to drive that car and feel how good it is. Every driver would feel that.

“We’ve had two difficult years and if we work towards beating that car, it is going to be a way better feeling than stepping into the best car.

“That wouldn’t do much for me, in the sense of stepping into the car that is the most dominant of all time. Working with my team to build and be able to beat them, that would be better for my legacy.”