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Hamilton Hopes There Will Be More Challengers in 2018

12:35, 11 Mar 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Lewis Hamilton hopes that there will be more race winners this year in the Formula One, as it would be more entertaining as a product for the fans.

"The more competition there is, the more fun it is to watch," Hamilton told the press on Friday. "I have grown up watching the sport, being a fan of it."

"The ultimate goal is that we hopefully have more teams fighting for the championship."

"I think there was one year where had six different winners in the first six races, or whatever it was. That’s only good for the sport."

The reigning world champion then spoke on the competition, and in particular Red Bull Racing.

"I think Red Bull could be a real challenge this year, their car looks great."

"I haven’t seen anything from what Ferrari have been doing, but for sure they’ll be good. It’s going to be exciting."

Mercedes have used the testing weeks more to practice long runs and do race-simulations, rather than pushing the one-lap pace. Reliability again looked impeccable for the Germans, and Hamilton too was happy with the way the car behaved in longer runs.

"Our week has been very good, very productive, we got through everything we needed, reliability has been fantastic and the car feels great."

"We haven’t been working on balance or anything like that," he added. "But in terms of some of the issues which we had last year, a lot of them - some of them at least - have been removed."