Lewis Hamilton thinks Red Bull can win all remaining races. Photo: RacePictures.

Hamilton fires Verstappen warning shot at McLaren

13:56, 23 Sep

Updated: 14:36, 23 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Lewis Hamilton finished in a lowly P8 in Azerbaijan, ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in P9. Giving the Scuderia the hurry up on bringing updates for the SF-25, the Briton revealed he expects Red Bull to win all the remaining races.

Lewis Hamilton finished P8 in Azerbiajna. Photo: RacePictures.

Red Bull took an upgrade before, I think, in the last race, and they've now picked up their pace, and I expect they're probably going to win all races

- Lewis Hamilton

"Well, McLaren's been ahead all year," Hamilton said after the race in Baku. "We haven't made any steps to improve, so we're a good couple of steps behind."

However, the Briton sees Red Bull as being capable of winning all the remaining races, and thus Verstappen's fierce 2021 rival opens the door for the possibility of the Dutchman successfully making what would be a movie worthy comeback title charge, as a 69 points gap currently separates him from Championship leader Oscar Piastri.

"Red Bull took an upgrade before, I think, in the last race, and they've now picked up their pace, and I expect they're probably going to win all races."

Nevertheless, Hamilton seems to be at a loss as he's unable to explain why the progress he and the Scuderia have undergone fails to materialise into better results.

"It's kind of crazy because we've made progress, yet we've had bad results in the last few races, because it felt like progress. So I think we're able to do a good weekend, [and get] a good result.

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Hamilton then dismissed getting a podium as being the target for the remaining races on the 2025 calendar, although it would be nice to achieve one, "it's not really going to change much," said the British Ferrari driver.

"I mean there's going to be races. As I said, if we qualify better, we're going to be in a much better position to race.

"I would give anything for an upgrade. But obviously we don't have that – [the] focus is on next year's car. So we just have to do better in optimizing and execution," Hamilton concluded.

Baku GP exposed Ferrari

The SF-25 has potential, sure, but one that cannot be translated into good results during the relevant sessions often. In qualifying the team failed to bring the tyres up to temperature. On Sunday Charles Leclerc experienced power unit issues again.

And last but not least, Hamilton's failure to comply with the team orders instructing him to give the position back to Leclerc prompted a resolute reaction from the Monegasque.

Whereas team principal Frédéric Vasseur claimed a win was in the cards for the Scuderia, all evidence seems to point to the contrary.

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