“To be 1.8 seconds behind is a real kick in the teeth,” Lewis Hamilton shocked after seeing W13’s performance deficit to Red Bull
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Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes came to Belgium high in spirits on the back of solid results before the summer break, however, after a disappointing Belgium GP qualifying, the second half of 2022 has started with utter disappointment for the team.
To add more salt to their wounds, Ferrari and Red Bull have again looked extremely strong and this has got to hurt Mercedes after the promise they showed during the closing stages before the summer break.
Mercedes was way off the pace during Belgium qualifying and Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he just doesn’t understand why the team is struggling so much with its car this year.
The reigning Constructors Champions after a run of solid results before the summer break indicated that they have made progress in their attempt to close the gap to the top two teams, but after Saturday, they have been given a harsh reality check.
The Ferrari and Red Bull duo were again seen at the front end after qualifying but Mercedes ended their qualifying exploits in P7 and P8 and what was even more shocking was the timings compared to Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton does not see any hope during 2022 for Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, who has been left completely shocked by the team’s gap to Red Bull and Ferrari, after the qualifying session said, “We’ve come here and we came here very, very optimistic that we would be close, half a second, who knows? And to be 1.8 seconds behind is a real kick in the teeth. It’s a car that we continue to struggle with. Definitely won’t miss it at the end of the year,”
The 37-year-old has admitted that it has been extremely difficult for Mercedes to get on top of the issues on the W13 and believes that he is certainly not going to miss the car after the end of the 2022 season.
Moreover, Hamilton has urged the team to start focusing on the car for next year, while talking about the same, he said, “For me, it’s just to focus on building and developing next year’s car. Our car looks so different to theirs [Red Bull and Ferrari], so we have a lot of work to do, We will do the best that we can with what we have for the rest of the season.”
Lewis Hamilton does not see anything productive happening this season and thus has asked the team to start investing its resources in building the car for 2023.
However, including Belgium, there are still 9 races left in the season and the Brit is not willing to simply throw in the towel as he has indicated that the team is going to do everything in order to get as many decent results as possible.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)