Lewis Hamilton is "dying" to resume his regular on-track rivalry with Max Verstappen – but knows his Mercedes team is not yet in a position to regularly challenge the defending champion.
After all-out war between them at times last season, fans have been deprived of Hamilton vs Verstappen action in 2022. Red Bull have dominated the championship, while the Silver Arrows have been scrapping for every point possible after a poor start.
They have improved and, in recent races, have shown signs they are ready to fight at the front again. The Dutch Grand Prix was the most positive of all for them, as Mercedes outshone Ferrari and, until the final 10 laps, pushed Verstappen all the way.
Unfortunately-timed safety cars and a team tyres decision for team-mate George Russell left Hamilton horribly exposed as the race reached its climax. He was leading, but had Verstappen behind on fresh tyres at a safety car restart – a familiar scenario – and was powerless to prevent the Dutchman from flying by and going on to win.
It was a brief moment of last season's title challengers duelling on the track again – albeit a very brief and one-sided encounter. And the Brit is chomping at the bit for the chance to go wheel-to-wheel with his old rival again.
"Yeah, I mean, dying to get back in that race and have the opportunity to fight Max but the day hasn't come yet," said the seven-time world champion when asked about the prospect of being able to regularly duel with Verstappen.
He added: "It's been such a rollercoaster ride this year, you know, and this was such a good race. The car was feeling better than it felt all year long. And obviously with a difficult race last week. Yesterday, I was up until the last corner where the yellow flag was I was 0.07 on everyone.
"So we had pace. The car was different to how it had been all year long. And when I got up to second, I had that hard tyre on and I was catching them and I was thinking 'we might be fighting for a win here. And potentially a one-two'.
"And then the safety cars and the emotions were all over because I knew that at that point, I'd lost it. Before the restart, when everyone was on the soft tyre behind me, I knew that there was no way I was going to hold them behind me."
