Hamilton sees Red Bull losing ground: 'We haven't made a step forward'

The third race of the Formula 1 season has been won by Lewis Hamilton, giving the Brit a slightly wider lead in the standings. Afterwards, Hamilton commented that Red Bull Racing had lost some ground in Portimao.

The championship battle is going either way this year. Red Bull Racing and Mercedes have each built a car that can compete for victory, and after three races it is 2-1 for Mercedes. Mercedes was the strongest team in Portugal, and that surprises Hamilton, who doesn't feel his team has made a step forward.

''We are all extremely driven as a team to take this fight to Red Bull. This weekend it perhaps felt like Red Bull lost some performance as I don't feel we have made any progress since the last race. I think they went down a side path this weekend, closer to us,'' said Hamilton on the press conference.

However, the seven-time world champion is happy that it is so close. ''This is great. This is what we all live for. We're standing up and fighting to get every bit of performance out of that car to be an even better opponent'', concludes the Briton, who mainly points to tyre knowledge as a key factor in the race.