‘We really need to be realistic’: Lewis Hamilton concedes his chances for a win are gone in face of Red Bull
Follow Us
Lewis Hamilton in a press conference at the Singapore Grand Prix (Images through IMAGO / HochZwei)
Lewis Hamilton has won a race in every season of his career, but the streak may be coming to an end now. Right out of the gate, the 2022 Mercedes ‘W-13’ looked nowhere as good as either the Ferrari or the Red Bull. Credit does go to them for maximizing their package, and capitalizing on mistakes up front, but the car itself was never good enough to consistently compete for victories.
Though they have come close on a few occasions, such as in Silverstone, or most recently last weekend in Austin, the package could never really match, or surpass the two upfront. In Austin, Hamilton led the race for some time, until he was eventually passed by Max Verstappen, who was recovering from a slow pit stop. The Briton admits that his chances of winning a race this season have evaporated.
Despite competing for the win at one stage, Hamilton conceded as per The Guardian that Red Bull were better on true pace: “We really need to be realistic. The Red Bull car has been the fastest car by far all year and it is still the fastest car. It was great to have started third and been in position to fight but on true pace they’ve been ahead of us all weekend. They were on Sunday and they will be the next three races.”
Lewis Hamilton: Max Verstappen’s recovery shows ‘serious’ speed
Lewis Hamilton does not believe that Mercedes will have a shot against Red Bull anymore, calling it ‘highly unlikely’ unless something drastic happens to them. Red Bull, particularly Max Verstappen had so much pace that he recovered from a disastrous pit stop, and still won the race with more than a 5 seconds gap.
The seven-time world champion believes that Verstappen’s recovery showed ‘serious’ pace: “He had an 11-second stop, and he was behind Charles, that just shows how much pace they had in hand. To have got past Charles and to have caught up six seconds and pulled three seconds ahead of me at least, that shows some serious speed.”
This was the Dutchman’s 13th victory of the season – an all-time wins record that he now shares with Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013). It has been an incredibly dominant season, and Max Verstappen sealed the title with 4 races to go. Like it was with Mercedes in 2014, the advantages that come with being on top of new regulations don’t go away so easily.
But Lewis Hamilton is still optimistic that he could once again compete at the front next season. He feels if the package is good enough to be on par with the frontrunners – they could have a really ‘exciting’ year. Perhaps another shot at a long-awaited eight championship.
Stay Updated!
Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)