03/08/2019
NEWS STORY
After those miserable years with McLaren, Honda is finally getting its act together, and in its first season with Red Bull has powered Max Verstappen to wins in two of the last three races.
Though his team has dominated the hybrid era, winning 83 of the 111 races (73.9%) since the formula was introduced, Lewis Hamilton believes that Honda is posing an increasing threat and along with Red Bull should be taken more seriously.
"What people need to remember is that it's a multi-championship winning team," the Briton told reporters. "They've always had a very good car. You've got Adrian Newey, who's one of the best designers there is in the sport.
"They had a slump with a little bit less power, then they had a period of time where they had a little bit less downforce than most people that definitely crept back up and started to utilise the car more,
"Both drivers are starting to put in good performances, so they're there, and it is clearly a very good car. We're in a period of time where it suits them.
"Also people need to remember that sometimes a car is better in some places," he added. "The car is not always the best through the whole season. In Austria, the Red Bull was a better package for that circuit, it worked well in the temperatures and everything. Even compared to us with a good car and against Ferrari.
"It might be that way this weekend," he admitted, "I think Singapore will be strong for them.
"When we get to the longer places like Monza, it could be different this year, they have a new power unit, they're not lower than us on power. I think in some places they've got more power than us. It will be interesting to see how they go in those other places."
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.