Mercedes drivers predict race against Verstappen: ‘Maybe we can fight'

At the start of the Qatar Grand Prix, there will be two Mercedes cars in Max Verstappen’s mirrors. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start from P2 and P3 respectively on Sunday, and both of them hope to win the race. In order to do that, they will have to keep up with the Dutchman.

"No, I'm battling the guy to the right of me [Verstappen] for sure," Hamilton underlined after qualifying. "I'm going to give it everything to try and fight him. Maybe, like George said, maybe he will just disappear like he does in most of the other races, but maybe we'll be able to fight."

Hamilton also added that a win is what on his mind, and would not settle anything less in order to gain points on Sergio Perez. "I'm trying to win the race. It doesn't matter who I'm fighting against."

Russell did not sounded as determined as Hamilton did in Qatar. "Probably waving him goodbye, I think, after Turn 1. Max has done an exceptional job. He deserves to be champion this year. Of course, in Formula 1 we love the competition, but we can't take anything away from what he and Red Bull have done. We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and raise our game into next year and give them a challenge," Russell gave his prediction while he also praised Verstappen.