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Hamilton: F1 has 'fundamental issues' preventing great racing

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 still has "fundamental issues" that are preventing great racing despite enjoying his US Grand Prix battles with Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen

Hamilton, who finished third at Austin, cautioned that future rule changes should ensure it is much easier for cars to get closer to one another, suggesting F1 could be the "best racing series" if that were achieved.

Front wings are being changed for 2019 in an attempt to allow drivers to follow more closely, and research is ongoing for a bigger package of '21 changes.

"I really enjoyed the race," said Hamilton, when asked by Autosport about the US GP.

"Kimi drove great, Max drove great. Seeing that there was three of us, at one point there was me and Kimi wheel-to-wheel, I thought it was awesome.

"I wish it went for longer in that first stint, and the next time it happened.

"And then at the end with us three in that train I wished the race could continue, because it was awesome, and I was hoping we might get to manoeuvre.

"But still fundamental issues in F1 are that you can't follow, so there's big gaps between us all.

"I really, really hope that whatever the guys are doing they are making some good decisions for 2021, so there's not a second and a half you need to get close to a car.

"I hope it's a lot less than that. If you get it a lot less then we're gonna have the best racing series ever."

The Mercedes driver also rued problems he had lapping traffic at Austin.

"I don't feel like it's entirely the backmarkers' fault," said Hamilton.

"Tyre pressures have gone up, it's very hard to follow, so as soon as you get within five seconds you feel the wake from the car ahead.

"The car starts sliding more. So the advantage you have starts to disappear the closer you get.

"They've got a race to do, they shouldn't have to let off massively to give several seconds to you.

"It's a bit of a difficult scenario. For example I was stuck behind two Toro Rossos, but I couldn't get close enough, and my tyres were getting worse and worse, and I wasn't getting close enough for them to have to lift off.

"So it's a difficult one. It was nowhere near as bad as somewhere like Singapore, for example."

Hamilton said the major rules shake-up should ensure there is a less drastic performance gap between the top teams and the rest.

"That's a fundamental issue of the sport," he added. "There shouldn't be such a big difference between first and last, there shouldn't be such a massive difference between cars.

"How can a Williams or a McLaren be three seconds off a lap? That's a huge amount of performance.

"It's got the potential to be the greatest racing series there is, but you look at MotoGP and they are wheel to wheel, fighting from corner to corner."

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