Hamilton concedes Formula 1 is now in Verstappen’s era as the Red Bull driver continues to dominate.
Verstappen’s outstanding performance includes 8 wins and 2 second-place finishes, putting him 99 points ahead in the Drivers’ standings. He is on track to surpass his own records from the previous season when he achieved 15 wins and earned 454 points.
Hamilton, who was Verstappen’s title rival in 2021, acknowledges his own team’s struggles and the superior performance of Red Bull, affirming the start of the “Verstappen era.”
“For a long, long time within our sport, there’s always large chunks of dominance,” Hamilton told the Chequered Flag podcast.
“I had it and I was really, really fortunate to have it with this team, Michael [Schumacher] had it, Sebastian [Vettel] had it and now it’s Max’s period.
“There’s no telling how long that will be or whether we get the car on the right track and can fight them next year or if Ferrari can, or whether it will be us next or Ferrari next or Red Bull next.
“That’s why I’ve been saying just recently, like, even when we were dominant, the best years were when we were fighting, when we had close battles with Red Bull or we had a close battle with Ferrari.
“On some of the other times where the gap was a little bit bigger. That wasn’t really the most fulfilling period of time. But it’s nothing we can do about it, we just did a better job. And that’s where Max is.
“Ultimately, him and his team have just done a better job than everybody else, and you cannot take it away from them.
“But as a sport, we have to work, we have to have a conversation about how we can set it up to be better for the future, so we have tighter races where the pack is closer, and we have close battles between Red Bull and Ferrari and Mercedes Aston Martin that would be epic.
“That’s my dream because that’s when I grew up racing karts, it was wheel to wheel close battling.
“I don’t dream of having a dominant period ever again, in my for myself, like winning multiple championships in a row, but the hope is that you would be in battle at least.”
There’s no competition in max era. Nothing