“Max would not be having the same time” - Lewis Hamilton takes a jibe at Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton recently claimed that Max Verstappen would not be having this big of a margin if the Brit was in Sergio Perez's car.

Perez is currently P2 in the championship but has been struggling while competing against his double-world champion teammate in the qualifying sessions. The Mexican drive has only been able to outqualify Verstappen on two out of 12 occasions thus far. He has struggled to match the pace of his Red Bull teammate in races as well.

Speaking to the media, including Canal+, post the Belgian GP, Lewis Hamilton took a dig at Max Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez.

“Do I want to be as fast as [Max]? Of course! Would I like to have a car that’s as fast as him? Of course! If I was in Sergio’s car, Max would not be having the same [good] time he’s having now,” he said.

Sergio Perez has stated earlier that almost 90 percent of the drivers on the current grid would not be able to challenge Max Verstappen in the same car right now. But many wonder whether the Mexican driver would put seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in that bracket.

Lewis Hamilton explains why he stumbled in the 2023 Belgian GP?

The Mercedes driver stated that it was a non-eventful race for him and he could not extract the most out of his car as he was experiencing some bouncing issues.

Lewis Hamilton was quoted as saying by F1.com:

"It was a non-eventful race for me today with not a huge amount going on. I was unable to keep up with the cars ahead of me and was struggling in the beginning. We know the rear end is our biggest issue and then we had some bouncing this weekend. In the end, I was keeping the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc within a few seconds, but I couldn’t get any closer.

"It was nice to have the gap to the car behind and to attempt to go for the fastest lap. It was gusty out there today and difficult to keep it on the track, but my lap was decent. We know we have more work to do to close the gap to the front. We’ll work with all the data we’ve accumulated and try to figure out what we can do for the next race after the summer break."

It will be interesting to see if Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes can challenge Red Bull in the second half of the season.