SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull has the pace to challenge Mercedes at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix -- even if the race stays dry.
Rain is forecast for the weekend, but on Thursday and Friday thunderstorms arrived in the late afternoon after the race is expected to finish. Red Bull should be strong if its wet at Interlagos, but Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo also showed impressive pace in the dry during Friday practice, with Verstappen just 0.030s off Hamilton's fastest time of the day.
Hamilton needs to win this weekend's race to boost his championship chances and ideally needs rival Nico Rosberg to finish fourth or lower in order to put the battle back in his hands ahead of the final round in Abu Dhabi. Finishing ahead of the two Red Bulls on the podium would be the perfect scenario for Hamilton, but does not believe rain is necessary for that to become a reality.
"I don't think so, I think the Red Bulls look like they are very close, they are definitely in the run for it," he said. "I think naturally if it's wet then that mixes it up a lot and it enables others to get close."
Hamilton has never won in Sao Paulo and has been beaten by Rosberg at the the last two Brazilian Grands Prix. Although Hamilton was quicker than his teammate in both Friday practice sessions, he lost 0.4s when temperatures rose in the afternoon session.
"In FP2 my lap wasn't really that great but I know for tomorrow it will be stronger. Today has generally been very, very strong, as oppose to last year, I feel much happier in the car.
"Definitely. I think in previous years I've struggled with rear end and this weekend that doesn't seem to be a problem so I hope that continues. And also I prepared a little bit differently for this weekend and it seems to be working so far but there's still close competitors so I need to make sure that I stay on top of my game."
Asked what it would mean to him to win at his hero Ayrton Senna's home race, Hamilton added: "It's something I've been working towards for many, many years and Aryton was my favourite driver and I seem to have a lot of support here in Brazil even though I'm not Brazilian so it's the one grand prix that I've not really won. Of course Baku is on the calendar but otherwise I've won everywhere else, except for here. This one is definitely a very, very special one. I guess I've left the best till last."