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Hamilton’s problem is not just the Mercedes

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Hamilton’s problem is not just the Mercedes

Motorsport Images
Motorsport Images

The Mercedes is undrivable… but Russell has 21 points more than Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton is having the worst start to the season since joining Formula 1 in 2007. After four races, Lewis has only 28 points and is seventh in the Drivers’ World Championship. These results are attributable to the poor performance of the new Mercedes W13, a too radical car in whose design the German team has failed.

But, beyond the lack of benefits in the W13, there is something that could worry Hamilton even more. And it is that his partner, George Russell, who has just arrived at Mercedes, has 21 points more than him, a sign that he has known how to adapt better to a car that is very difficult to drive.

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2022 Imola GP: Red Bull wins at Ferrari’s home

For Hamilton, the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola was surely one of his most difficult races. Not only because of the disastrous 13th place he finished in, but because the seven-time champion was actually missing all weekend. He qualified thirteenth on the grid, the same place in which he finished the sprint race and then the Grand Prix.

During Sunday’s race, Hamilton spent more than 30 laps stuck behind the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly. Even when the possibility of using the DRS was activated, the Mercedes driver was not able to beat the Frenchman, who drives – a priori – an inferior single-seater.

But that was not all, because on lap 40, Hamilton was lapped by Max Verstappen, the driver with whom the World Cup was played until the last lap of the last race of the 2021 F1 season. And, to top it off, his teammate George Russell put in a brilliant performance to cross the finish line in fourth place.

Bearing all this in mind, it’s no surprise that Toto Wolff took control of the team radio to apologize to Hamilton for the difficult car he drives. “Lewis, I apologize for the car you had to drive today. I know it’s undrivable. You don’t deserve a car like that. It was a terrible race,” the Austrian said, to which Hamilton replied: “Let’s keep working hard.” .

Until now, the most difficult season for Hamilton in F1 was 2009, the one in which BrawnGP swept away the double diffuser and only Red Bull could stand up to him on a few occasions. But despite this, Lewis won two races and achieved three podium finishes. This year he has one, in Bahrain, where he managed to finish third after the abandonment of the two Red Bulls.

Lewis Hamilton Imola

Motorsport Images

Only Mercedes will be able to turn the situation around, although it seems very complicated, since the problem is in the car’s own design. There is already talk that, perhaps, the best thing is to focus efforts on the 2023 car to be back at the top next season.

And in the meantime, Mercedes will have to try to score as many points as possible to finish at least third or fourth in the World Championship. Now, although they are third, McLaren and probably other teams like Alpha Tauri or Alpine -when luck begins to smile on them-, will end up surpassing them if the performance remains the same.

As for Hamilton, he will probably still not recover from the end of the 2021 season and, moreover, he will also probably need more time to get used to a car as difficult as the W13. Even more than Russell, who, after all, has spent years running with Williams at the back of the grid, something that Hamilton has never done.

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