Formula 1 returns to Europe this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix the first race in a triple header.
After a two-week break following the Canadian Grand Prix, the calendar is heating up before the mid-season break at the end of July.
Last season, Red Bull and Max Verstappen already looked destined for their respective titles.
And while they’re both still in pole position to win their championships in 2024, the grid has converged on Red Bull in recent races.
Damon Hill was speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast and previewing the race in Barcelona.
With a new race in Madrid on the horizon, teams will want to take advantage of their previous knowledge of the seriously fast track before heading to pastures new.
Hill believes that while Red Bull are still likely to win the Spanish Grand Prix, he expects Mercedes to once again be the surprise package.
Their car looks in much better shape in recent races thanks in part to one addition that Red Bull aren’t particularly happy with.
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Damon Hill tips Mercedes to ‘spring a surprise’ at the Spanish Grand Prix
The Circuit de Catalunya has a reputation for rewarding the most balanced car on the grid.
There’s a reason why teams used to head to Barcelona for pre-season testing so often as it gave them an excellent indication of how fast their cars were.
However, that doesn’t mean it can’t spring a few surprises.
It’s 12 years since Pastor Maldonado won his only Formula 1 race at the track which was the last time the Williams team stood on the top step of the podium.
Mercedes wouldn’t consider it an equally surprising should they come out on top in Spain.
George Russell bagged the team’s first Grand Prix podium in Canada after Lewis Hamilton’s second-place finish in China earlier in the year.
He was on pole position in Montreal and Hamilton came home just behind his teammate to secure their best points haul of the season.
While Max Verstappen is still expected to win the race, Mercedes will back themselves to be in the chasing pack with Ferrari and McLaren.
This will only put further pressure on Sergio Perez who appears incapable of closing the gap to his teammate with more and more drivers slotting in between the two Red Bull drivers.
Max Verstappen likely to have several challengers for victory in Spain
Asked if he’s expecting Max Verstappen to win the Spanish Grand Prix, Hill said: “I’m not totally as confident of that prediction as I might have been in the past.
“So, let’s leave it at that, that there’s a chance. I don’t know what Ferrari are going to do!
“I mean it could even be that Mercedes actually have really broken through a little glass ceiling that they had there, so it could be that they could spring a surprise.”
Mercedes have suffered since the beginning of the 2022 season to fully understand their car and numerous updates have failed to have the desired impact.
There have been question marks over their simulator, however, the past few races might have proved that they’ve finally turned a corner.
George Russell admitted after the race in Canada that the car even outperformed his expectations.
If that level of confidence can continue then we may have a four-way battle for victory in Spain on Sunday.
The post ‘There’s a chance’: Damon Hill now names one F1 team who could ‘spring a surprise’ at the Spanish Grand Prix appeared first on F1 Oversteer.