Lewis Hamilton has predicted Max Verstappen’s staggering domination could continue for the next couple of years.
The seven-time champion punctured the dreams of those who could see the shoots of competitive form emerging lately from the champions arch rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Hamilton was speaking after the Dutchman extended his glory run to a record 17th win of the season with an easy victory in Brazil.
At the same time, Mercedes' renaissance in Texas and Mexico fell flat on its face in Sao Paulo with a performance boss Toto Wolff branded “the worst weekend in 13 years”.
Hamilton finished eighth, almost a minute behind the winner, and teammate George Russell retired with a broken engine.
That was on a circuit where Russell triumphed 12 months ago, and just 14 days after the man in the other Mercedes had pushed Verstappen all the way to the flag in Austin before being disqualified, and followed it up with another second place in Mexico.
“All I can do is try to remain optimistic,” said Hamilton in Brazil. “But the Red Bull is so far away they’re probably going to be very clear for the next couple of years.”
Despite his delight at the car’s form at the last race Hamilton now admitted: “I’m not dazzled by where we are.
“I get messages saying ’Oh, it’s looking good’ but I reply ‘It was looking good this time last year too and then we started the season 1.5 seconds behind'.”
The latest blow comes at the end of a week in which former technical boss Mike Elliott, who championed their disastrous so-called ‘zero sidepod’ design, left the team.
Former Ferrari chief James Allison tightened his grip on technical matters.
Wolff branded their sudden lack of form as “unacceptable” and “baffling”, saying Mercedes appeared to be racing on “three wheels not four” in their “miserable” car.
Hamilton had been running third early in the race and looked set to carve another slice out of Sergio Perez’s grip on second place in the drivers' championship.
But his slump to eighth, while Red Bull's Mexican driver gamely plodded up to fourth, meant Hamilton shipped another 12 points and now trails by 32 with rounds remaining in Las Vegas on November 19 and Abu Dhabi on November 26.
Hamilton’s analysis also rings true for Ferrari, who also suffered badly in Brazil. Having qualified on the front row, Charles Leclerc failed to make it to the start after a hydraulics failure pitched him into the barriers and teammate Carlos Sainz complained publicly about their troublesome clutch.
Bemoaning his misfortune, Leclerc joked he might detour before Vegas to the Christian religious site of Lourdes to try to turn his luck around.
Such is Red Bull’s scorching pace under genius designer Adrian Newey, their nearest rivals in Brackley and Maranello are falling apart just when the foundations of next year’s challenge should be materialising.
The two legendary teams are separated by just 20 points in the battle for second in the constructors' championship.
Neither team are particularly enamoured at the ‘honour’ of such a distant second to Red Bull except that it is tied to tens of millions extra in prize money.
With at least 44 points on offer in each of the last two events, one big race result could prove decisive.
“The gap is still big in the championship and we have to be aggressive,” admitted Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur.
Meanwhile, F1 bosses have reportedly assured teams the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will go ahead despite renewed warnings by Britain’s Foreign Office to its citizens to maintain a “high level of security awareness” in the Gulf because of the “high threat of terrorist attack globally affecting UK interests and British nationals”.
The warning by the government in the country where most of the F1 teams are based is a copy of those being issued in Belgium, France and Bahrain who are also involved in F1.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
McIlroy's struggles in 2016/17
European Tour: 6 events, 16 rounds, 5 cuts, 0 wins, 3 top-10s, 4 top-25s, 72,5567 points, ranked 16th
PGA Tour: 8 events, 26 rounds, 6 cuts, 0 wins, 4 top-10s, 5 top-25s, 526 points, ranked 71st
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
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Results
2pm: Serve U – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Violent Justice, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
2.30pm: Al Shafar Investment – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Desert Wisdom, Bernardo Pinheiro, Ahmed Al Shemaili
3pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Fawaareq, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
4pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Rakeez, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Handicap (TB) Dh78,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Capla Crusader, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
HAJJAN
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
