Doornbos takes Hamilton into account: 'Can still win'

In the Formula 1 paddock, people are curious to see how Lewis Hamilton will make his way to the front of the field during the Turkish Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver has received a new ICE, but hasn't changed any other engine components. Will the other parts hold up? This season the German racing team have already had to change more parts suddenly.

"I think they say that because they just don't want to admit that it was a strategic move that turned out completely wrong. Max just passed Bottas straight away in Russia", says Doornbos about the fact that Toto Wolff called out that Bottas needed a new engine straight after Monza in Sochi because the other one had failed after just one GP. Bottas therefore faced a grid penalty two weekends in a row. According to Doornbos, it was only the intention to sacrifice Bottas so that Verstappen would not score many points. Or was it a reliability issue after all?

Hamilton not excluded

With a grid penalty behind his name, what can Hamilton do in Turkey? "He can still win it then," Doornbos argues. "You can see it in Max, he just finished second in Russia." Renger van der Zande adds: "Hamilton drives hard everywhere, doesn't matter what you do, he'll drive to the front anyway."

Nevertheless, the Dutch racing driver has to make a comment."In recent years the differences were a bit bigger [between the top teams and the racing teams behind them]. The differences are smaller now, so it's harder to get past the last eight," said Van der Zande, who sees Doornbos catching up by saying Hamilton does have the advantage of a new powerplant. "Such a new engine does help, you could see that in the data today. Hamilton's top speed was unprecedented at 328km/h."

Verstappen calling the shots

That Verstappen is having a strong season is something we all know by now, but Doornbos emphasises it once more with the following statistic:"Whenever Max has finished, it has been first or second. And then once in Hungary in ninth place. The rest were all crashes", he points out.