'Red Bull hurt more from new Pirelli tyre than Mercedes'

Peter Windsor has begun his analysis of the first half of this season, and starts his first video with a review of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. According to the former Williams team manager, Hamilton continues to show that he is one of the best drivers around.

Strong start of Hamilton

After 11 races, F1 is on its summer break, and so it's time to take stock and reflect; Mercedes and Hamilton are on top of the championship. This happened in the final two races before the summer break, where Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen saw their lead disappear due to bad luck.

"It's been a very good first half of the year for Lewis in so many ways. It's also been a curious one too, because he doesn't appear to have had the best car or a car he could do anything with. That has certainly been a concern for them. The season has picked up enormously for them in Silverstone for Mercedes, since the stiffer rear tyre that Pirelli introduced there," Windsor says in his new video.

Luck for Mercedes

''It appears to have helped Mercedes and Ferrari and not Red Bull. Or if you look at it another way, it has hurt Red Bull and had no effect on Ferrari and Mercedes. Adrian Newey will certainly be thinking about this in terms of how this has affected performance.''

In an earlier video, Windsor looked at the way he drives in dirty air, stating that Lewis Hamilton, like Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, is still great here. "That shows that he is still the driver he was years ago and he is still motivated. My friend who has a bet on Max is concerned about that side of the ongoing season, especially with the stronger rear," the former Williams team manager concluded.