Max Verstappen has warned Red Bull and rivals to write off Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes at their peril on the eve of the 2023 Formula 1 season start.
Mercedes endured a difficult winter testing in Bahrain last week, leading to suggestions that they face another season of struggle.
But two-time world champion Verstappen said he anticipated duelling with Hamilton and his team-mate George Russell at the front of the grid this season.
“I don’t count out Lewis and Mercedes,” Verstappen told Standard Sport. “They have a different philosophy and maybe it takes a little bit more time to nail it.
“With these new cars, we don’t know what direction it is going to give the biggest margin in terms of where you improve. Maybe at one point, we stall, I don’t know. Maybe they still have a lot of untapped potential.”
Mercedes’ 2023 challenger, the W14, is an evolution of last year’s car, with the team still pushing ahead with a sidepod design not employed by any other team on the grid.
They have remedied their previous issue of porpoising, which curtailed their progress for much of last season.
Hamilton was eclipsed by new team-mate Russell in 2022, the younger of the pair scoring 275 points to Hamilton’s 240. It led some to conjecture that Hamilton, now 37, was past his best.
But Verstappen dispelled that suggestion. He said: “I think in F1 age is not like where you lose a bit of pace. I think Fernando [Alonso – still on the grid at 41] shows that it’s definitely possible to continue at the top.”
Mercedes struggled during the test with the rear of the car and have brought an adapted rear wing to this race. But Hamilton was dismissive of the idea that such a change would help catapult them immediately towards the front of the grid.
“We’re not where we wanted to start a season but this is still a multi-championship-winning team and group of people,” said the seven-time world champion.
“We’ve had a few days of digesting the data. We still have a good challenge up ahead of us and I knew from the moment I drove the car where we were and the challenges we could be facing. But not having bouncing this year is a huge plus. Now, we can focus on pure performance.”
Last year’s race result at the season opener in Bahrain flattered Mercedes as Hamilton finished on the podium behind the two Ferraris and Russell ended the race in fourth. That result only happened after both Red Bulls retired late in the grand prix with reliability issues.
Russell has already ruled out the prospect of Mercedes vying for victory in Sunday’s race, with the Red Bull of Verstappen estimated to be as much as half a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field. But the younger Briton sounded a positive note in the build-up to the weekend.
He said: “I think we saw the way our development at Mercedes last year was pretty spectacular. The latest changes will take us a step closer.
“We’re starting from a higher point than last year and not too many races at the start of the year gives us time to develop in the wind tunnel back at the factory.
“We need to trust in our process. Mercedes built world championship-winning cars eight seasons in a row. They haven’t forgotten how to build a race car. I believe as the season progresses we’re definitely going to close that gap and there’s no reason why we can’t fight as the season hots up.”
