Lewis Hamilton believes there is a chance to beat Max Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix. A small chance, but the Brit will seize it with both hands.
Hamilton's last victory dates back to 2021, when the Brit managed to win the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. In 2022, Hamilton's run was broken, having won a race every year until that season, and in 2023, Hamilton still does not have a win. So Lewis hopes to take advantage of every opportunity.
With Verstappen having to start the race at the Circuit of the Americas from sixth place, Hamilton knows there is a chance: "Anything's possible. It depends. He's got at least half a second on all the cars ahead of him per lap, pretty much, so that should be enough to get by, but there is degradation and those sorts of things and strategy," Hamilton said on Saturday after the sprint race.
"I assume he will be climbing relatively fast. We'll have a job on our hands up ahead to try and hold him back but it's a track that you can overtake, so it is likely that he'll be finishing high up," the Briton concluded.
Hamilton himself also showed race pace on Saturday. In the first few laps, Hamilton was even able to keep up with Verstappen for a while. Where the Red Bull driver was able to keep those lap times, Hamilton still fell back and eventually finished nine seconds down in a 19-lap race.