Wolff sees F1 Battle going the distance

LONDON • Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff expects the Formula One championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen to rage deep into the closing stages of this season, with the gap between the pair too close for comfort.

The 36-year-old Briton turned a five-point deficit to his 23-year-old Dutch rival into a two-point lead in the overall standings after racing to a landmark 100th win in the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The duo have been engaged in a fierce battle all year long, with Hamilton aiming to become the first driver to win eight F1 titles, as Verstappen hunts down his first championship triumph.

Thirty-two points is the widest gap between the two so far, with the overall lead changing hands four times this year and three times in the last five races.

With seven races to go, Wolff feels there is little separating the pair.

"Neither driver or neither team can have any comfort in the current situation because there is just no gap in terms of points. This is going to go very long," the Austrian, whose team are 33 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors' standings, said.

The 2014 Olympic Park venue that hosted Sunday's race in Sochi and Monza, scene of the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago, have traditionally been tracks that have played to Mercedes' strengths.

While Hamilton seized back the overall lead in Russia and kept his team's 100 per cent record in Russia intact, he and the Silver Arrows would have hoped to have come away with more than just a five-point swing.

The points difference between Verstappen and Hamilton was unchanged after the pair put each other out of the race in Monza.

In Russia, Verstappen finished second, despite having started last after taking on a new engine.

Of the seven races to come, only Turkey, the next one on Oct 10, and where Hamilton clinched his seventh title last year, appears to be a clear Mercedes favourite.

He may also need to take on a new power unit, which like Verstappen in Russia, would trigger penalties, sending him to the back of the grid.

The likelihood of Mercedes making it to the end of the season with just the two used engines Hamilton has available is minimal.

"Undoubtedly, it's going to be tough," he added.

"For two-thirds of the season so far, they've (Red Bull) had the edge. However, it's obviously been difficult, with all sorts of things, curve balls sent to both of us and our teams.

"There's still everything to play for in these next races. I think they've got a good set of circuits coming up and I anticipate it will just continue to be really close between us. Just got to be hopeful of some good races."

Wolff added: "I've stopped trying to anticipate whether it's a historically strong race for us or not because with the new regulation, everything has changed so much.

"But definitely, we knew that Monza and Sochi would be coming more towards us and the reality is that we are where we are."

REUTERS