F1: Lewis Hamilton expects Red Bull and Max Verstappen title threat in 2019

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is confident that Mercedes can win another title double next year but believes Red Bull will provide big competition for the crowns.

The British driver secured his fifth career F1 championship two weeks ago and his victory in Brazil last Sunday meant that Mercedes won the constructors’ title.

Mercedes will head to the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi in celebratory mood but Hamilton is already preparing for next year.

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“I do believe this team can do it again,” he told the Daily Express. “I do believe that we have the capability and there’s an opportunity there. It just depends how much work we put in from now until the start of the season.”

But the 33-year-old does think that Red Bull will add spice to the title race along with Ferrari. Red Bull will have a new driver line-up next season when Max Verstappen is joined by Pierre Gasly and this change to the team could make it stronger.

Hamilton said: “You’ve got to imagine the opposition is going to be raising the bar... So we’ve got to take a step up.”

‘Race in places with real history’

After the decision to add the Vietnam Grand Prix to the calendar from 2020, the BBC reports that Lewis Hamilton has questioned the strategy of F1 owners Liberty Media in taking races to new destinations.

Hamilton believes that more grands prix should be held in countries that have a “real racing history”. The British driver told the BBC: “On the racing side, I don’t know how important it is to go to new countries as such. If you had the Silverstone Grand Prix and a London Grand Prix, it would be pretty cool.

“We’ve got a lot of real racing history in England, Germany, Italy and now in the [United] States it is starting to grow. But you only have one event per year in those places. If it was my business, I’d be trying to do more events in those countries.”

Hamilton has mixed feelings about India hosting F1. “I’ve been to India before to a race which was strange because India was such a poor place yet we had this massive, beautiful grand prix track made in the middle of nowhere. I felt very conflicted when I went to that grand prix.

The British driver also questioned Turkey’s inclusion, given the apparent lack of interest in the sport. “We had a grand prix in Turkey and hardly anyone came. Cool track, cool weekend but poor audience.”