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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Majendie

F1: Lewis Hamilton vows 'best shot' at runners-up spot as Sergio Perez battle heats up

Lewis Hamilton has his sights set on the runners-up spot in this year’s Formula 1 title race after Max Verstappen wrapped up a record 16th grand prix victory of the season.

The Dutchman surpassed his own win mark for a single campaign with another comfortable procession in Mexico City on Sunday.

Hamilton, after struggling with his car for much of the weekend, finished a surprise second to close to within 20 points of Sergio Perez, who still lies second in a drivers’ championship dominated by his Red Bull team-mate despite crashing out in front of his home crowd.

“It’s mostly dependent on Checo’s [Perez] weekends,” said Hamilton. “They have the championship-winning car.

Lewis Hamilton is 20 points behind Sergio Perez in the drivers' standings with three races left on the 2023 schedule (Getty Images)

"He has just been unfortunate in some scenarios. I have lost quite a lot of points in the last two races but he lost points here.

“Having lost the points last week, I didn’t think I would be in shooting range but, after today, we will give it the best shot. It’s a bonus if we get second in the drivers’.”

Hamilton’s Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff described it as a “brilliant, brilliant drive from Lewis”, but was at a loss to explain fluctuations in pace from the Silver Arrows over the course of the weekend.

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