Max Verstappen is on course for a second consecutive title after winning nine out of 14 races so far, while Red Bull are poised for their first constructors' title since 2013.

However, Hamilton said he still believed his Mercedes team could make up the necessary ground to challenge Red Bull.

"If your car is fast one year, it evolves into a faster car the next year, so the gap they have now will be very hard for anyone from third down to ever close in this cycle of car design," Hamilton said.

"But we have won the last eight world titles. As a team, we've got amazing and talented engineers. I don't doubt they can.

"There are limitations with budget and wind tunnel and CFD time and we have to be very clear and precise in the direction we want to go and very efficient in our time."

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Hamilton praised Red Bull for starting this year's new era of technical regulations so strongly, saying that they were "a great team and they've done an amazing job".

And he singled out their chief technical officer Adrian Newey for special praise. Newey did his university thesis on 'ground effect', the aerodynamic phenomenon that has been reintroduced into F1 by this year's rules.

Hamilton said: "They have the aero balance great. They've got great ride quality. He [Verstappen] doesn't ever have any problems with bumps. When you have a stable platform like that…

"They had a great car last year as well. Adrian Newey doesn't generally build bad cars. He has built amazing cars over the years. My first championship car was a evolution of one of his cars.

"I know he did his thesis on ground-effect floors so it is no surprise. He is one of the only ones who draws by hand. His understanding has been an advantage them and they have done a great job."

Although Verstappen enjoyed his most dominant win of 2022 in Belgium last weekend, generally the Red Bull and Ferrari have been closely matched on performance.

Verstappen has been able to build his 98-point lead over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc largely because of problems encountered by Ferrari, particularly race-strategy errors.

Leclerc said Ferrari "struggled to believe" Red Bull were suddenly "so much quicker from one weekend to another", and that some of Verstappen's advantage was "track specific" and "maybe we took some wrong choices".

And his team-mate Carlos Sainz said it was his "feeling" that Ferrari would be competitive again at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso has meanwhile apologised for criticising Hamilton following their crash in the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, saying he did not mean what he said.

The two-time champion called Hamilton an "idiot" who "only knows how to drive and start in first [place]".

"I apologise. I was not thinking what I said," Alonso said.

"I don't believe it - and it's not that I believe or don't; there are facts that it is not that way. It is something you say in the heat of the moment."

On Thursday, Alonso described Hamilton as "a champion, a legend of our time", adding: "I don't think there was much to blame in that moment."

Mercedes posted on social media earlier this week a photo of a signed Hamilton cap indicating that it was for Alonso.

And during Thursday's media day, Alonso joined in the joke, going to the Mercedes motorhome to collect it.

Hamilton said later: "The cap was a fun thing. It is good to have fun sometimes with these things."

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