Red Bull underestimates Hamilton: 'He's amazed us, he drives great'

Red Bull Racing missed an important opportunity in Barcelona to put Max Verstappen on level terms with Lewis Hamilton. With Hamilton safely able to make a second stop, the seven-time world champion was able to easily go past the Dutchman on the track. Helmut Marko now knows what should have been done differently in that race.

"The solution was to have Perez near the first two. Hamilton would then have had to overtake him and that would certainly not have been easy," the Red Bull advisor acknowledges in conversation with Motorsport-Magazin. Marko explains that it was not an option to protect Verstappen from Hamilton. "If you're leading in Barcelona, you don't voluntarily give that spot away with a second stop".

For the first time since 2016, Hamilton seems to be gearing up for an intense title fight again. In 2017 and 2018, Ferrari was also fast, but Mercedes ran out of steam on the competition midway through the season. This year, Red Bull seems to be the big challenger. Next week's F1 run in Monaco is the chance for Verstappen to close the gap somewhat.

"We are amazed at how Hamilton is doing. Also psychologically and how he managed to close that six-second gap. He drives great races. We see that and we also know how much speed there is in that Mercedes," Marko concluded.