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Five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is hoping that Red Bull's new partnership with Honda can push it towards championship contention in 2019. The energy drink squad will run with Honda engines after its junior outfit Toro Rosso trialled the units in the 2018 season.
Red Bull has not been in contention for the title since its dominating year in 2013 with Sebastian Vettel. It has blamed previous engine supplier Renault for the lack of competitiveness since 2014 and has opted for a different approach with Honda going forward.
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Hamilton has competed against Ferrari and Vettel over the last two years, and while he expects the same again in 2019, he is hoping that Red Bull can join the fight with Max Verstappen and Piere Gasly.
“I would imagine it’s going to be Sebastian [as my main rival], and Valtteri [Bottas] alongside me, but will Red Bull… they’ve got a great car, and they were very strong at the end of the year,” said Hamilton.
“They’ve got a new engine next year. Will it be able to compete with ours? I hope so, because that would be epic if Red Bull could really start to mingle with us a bit more, weekend in, weekend out.
“They’ve got to obviously improve on their reliability which has been a big downfall for them this year. So there’s lots of areas, but I really wish them all the best - and we are down for the competition that’s for sure.”
Hamilton has won every title but one in the turbo hybrid era, losing out in 2016 ex-teammate Nico Rosberg. However, Hamilton doesn't put his success down to on single factor, stating that he has strengthened with experience.
“I don’t think it’s been a year of particularly one thing being learnt,” he said. “As I’ve grown, I’ve understood myself more and more, I’m able to centre myself and censor things and balance things better, which you get with experience, as you make mistakes you learn from them.
“And I’ve just been able to be a better me all year long and that’s never going to stop, I’m going to continue trying to work on that and try to work on the output, on the energy that I’m projecting to people, my commitment to all the different things that I have.”
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LightIsRight
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What he is really saying is "I hope that max will be fast enough to tangle(mingle) with the Ferrari's and to take Seb or Charles out every race and then all Valterri needs to do is cover me or let me past for the win".