“No”: Lewis Hamilton dismisses Guenther Steiner’s question of fighting Max Verstappen and others for a potential championship fight

Lewis Hamilton dismissed Mercedes fighting for the World Championship in the 2024 F1 season despite their three race wins so far. George Russell brought home another race win in Belgium earlier today.

Hamilton, after trying to overtake his teammate for the lead multiple times during the final stages of the race, finished in P2. This is the team's first 1-2 finish since Brazil in 2022 and their third race win this season.

Red Bull's lead in the championship has been shrinking with every race. Although Mercedes has been battling within the top simultaneously, Lewis Hamilton feels they are far off a championship battle.

"Uh, no," Lewis Hamilton said when asked about a potential title fight later in 2024 by Guenther Steiner.

"I mean, if we can continue these kind of performances, we've had the last few races, which has been fantastic I think. Uh if we can start a weekends off a little bit better. Hopefully, we can continue. I think obviously the McLaren was very strong today, but we were just a bit further ahead early on. Um, but yeah, we just got to keep pushing."

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Lewis Hamilton on battling with his teammate for race lead in Belgium

Both Mercedes were sitting in a comfortable lead when Lewis Hamilton (in P2) started to gain on George Russell to take the lead in the race. The latter started in P6, but pitting only once gave him the advantage. While he was on old hard tires, it did not seem to affect his racing a lot.

Lewis Hamilton tried to attack multiple times in the last three laps. However, he went too deep in turn one on one lap and locked up a little on the next one, giving Russell just enough time to win the race.

Reviewing this battle, Hamilton praised his teammate for his stint and tire conservation:

"I was trying to get close obviously but George did a great job on going long on the tyres. Every stint I had tyres left but the team pulled me in so… Unfortunate but, it is one of those days."

Mercedes, who had a very disappointing start to the season, has proven to become one of the most competitive teams. They have gained quite a bit on Ferrari, although the gap is still large between the two. If they manage to keep up this performance, the two teams can share a strong battle for third place in the championship.