28/11/2023
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton admits to fearing that Red Bull's dominance of the sport will continue for the foreseeable future.
His comments come at the end of a season in which he claimed just one pole position and only made six visits to the podium, having failed to score a single win for the second successive season since entering the sport.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen concluded the year with another lights to flag victory giving him 19 victories from 22 races, the Dutchman the only driver to complete every one of the season's 1,325 race laps.
"It's not been a great year," said the Briton, who finished the season ending race in ninth, six places down on his teammate, after incurring damage following a clash with Pierre Gasly.
"There's not a lot to take from the year in general," he continued. "The fact that I survived it, probably that's about it."
Asked whether he believes Mercedes will be able to challenge Red Bull next season, he said: "At this moment I don't really know. For Red Bull to win by 17 seconds in the end, and they haven't even developed their car since August, is definitely a concern.
"But we've learned a lot about the car and it's just down to the team now. They know what they need to do. Whether or not we will get there, we will see.
"I really don't know what to expect," he added. "The car was the same as last year for me, so..."
Asked if he will be happy to see the W14 consigned to history, he replied: "Yep!
"I just finished ninth, it's been two really bad races, I was just slow throughout the race."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Yas Marina here.