Lewis Hamilton and Co. 'most likely' to take the fight to Red Bull for the championship crown in 2024, states former F1 champion

Former F1 world champion Jenson Button feels that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are 'most likely' to challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the 2024 season.

The 2023 season will go down as one of the most dominant in the sport's history, with one driver blowing away the competition from the start. Red Bull finished the season with 21 races wins out of 22 races with only Ferrari taking the sole win in Singapore.

However, it was Mercedes who triumphed over the Italian team in the battle for P2 in the championship. Speaking with Sky Sports, Button picked Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to take the fight in the title battle. He said:

"Mercedes. When you look at the last 10 years in the sport, it's Mercedes and Red Bull, so it would be Mercedes. I would love to say, Ferrari, I would love to have them in the mix."

"You could say they were the closest competitor, especially towards the end of the season but I think Mercedes will have a good improvement [for 2024]. Whether it's enough, I don't know."

Jenson Button states that Lewis Hamilton is 'still as good as ever'

The 2009 world champion stated that his former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton is still as 'good as ever' in terms of outright pace despite not winning a race in over two years.

Button related to the struggles of the seven-time world champion since his heartbreak in Abu Dhabi 2021 and said:

"Lewis is as good as ever I would say in terms of his outright speed but also now he seems much more comfortable in himself and confident in his ability, so he makes fewer mistakes. So he's even better now than he was five or six years ago."

"That's tough [for his rivals]. If he gets a car that's competitive enough to fight for victories, when someone's that strong and that confident in themselves it's difficult to beat, as you can see with Max Verstappen right now."

It will be fascinating to see if Mercedes can provide Lewis Hamilton with a car that can challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the 2024 season given their struggles in the past two years.

The British driver will want one more chance to fight for the championship and win a record-breaking eighth world championship to end his career on a high.