Lewis Hamilton’s suspicion that Max Verstappen “hasn’t broken a sweat” this season has been validated by Red Bull CEO Christian Horner, who hinted that the Dutchman might have “pushed harder” this year.

Verstappen won 19 of the 22 Grands Prix in 2023, demonstrating his complete dominance. With an overwhelming 290 points, the Red Bull driver became the first to break the 500-point mark and won the Drivers’ Championship.

In his post-season review, seven-time world champion Hamilton spoke from a place of nostalgia, praising Verstappen and Red Bull. Hamilton understands what it’s like to be at the top of the grid.

“When you watch Red Bull, it performs flawlessly in every way. In terms of appearance, it resembles my 2020 car quite a bit. Super-stable. They’re putting out their best effort. It appears to be in the same type of window as we had, which is ideal for drivers as it allows them to fully utilize their unique skills, Hamilton said to The Race.

We have never really, truly pushed them, in my opinion. Even though Austin and I were the closest, I believe they always had at least a tenth or two advantage over us.”

He continued, “You look at lap times and some of Max [Verstappen’s] data, and you can see he is chilling at the front more often than not.” “I don’t believe he has exerted much effort this year.”

How often was Verstappen cruising in the races he won, Horner was asked in a recent interview with Sky Sports? “There’s always a managing element because the tires are pretty sensitive, so not overstressing the car,” he answered.

“However, that coincided at various times during the year, and we essentially stopped working on the car in the middle of the year because we had to be selective about where we allocated our resources due to the wind tunnel constraints we faced. As you can see, the field got closer and closer in the second half of the year.

“That first race in Bahrain at the beginning of the year, I believe we could have been another 20 seconds ahead if he had been pushing.”