They are currently overturning at Mercedes with perseverance slogans and eloquent attempts at explanations: The Formula 1 team, which has been undisputedly dominant since 2014, was dethroned last season by Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team – and is in free fall in terms of sport. At the last race in Imola, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes with the type designation W13 was, of all things, 13th. Nine places behind his new teammate, George Russell, who is 13 years his junior. 13 – the unlucky number?
Experiments expected in Miami
Perhaps. Because the main problem is this year’s racing car of the multiple constructors’ world champion Mercedes. “We found several ways to improve the car”said the guarantor of success at Mercedes, team boss Christian “Toto” Wolff, motorsport-total.com, and added with the outlook for the upcoming race in the USA: “In Miami we will be running experiments to correlate these simulations and hopefully confirm the development path for the upcoming races.” Which sounded a bit cryptic and was deciphered by Wolff a little later: “We don’t have the key at the moment.”
It has long been known that the technical regulations for the cars of the 2022 generation will be changed – but at Mercedes, more than a decade ago in 2009 – at that time still in association with chassis builder McLaren – they did not cope well with such strong changes in the rules. Back then, in the season following his first world championship, Hamilton was driven to the ground because of the poor performance of his racing car. After all, he still managed to win two more games in the second half of the season.
The gap to the competition is currently galactic
They are hoping for the same at Mercedes this year, knowing full well that the 2022 World Cup is almost gone – although only four of 22 races have been completed. Because the trend in the current season continues to point downwards: In Imola, for the first time in ten years, both cars were not able to place in the top ten. The German-Austrian-English team is currently missing one second per lap. In Formula 1 it’s like another galaxy. And for the Mercedes squad, spoiled by success, it was simply a nightmare.
Marko: “Maybe he should have stopped”
And Hamilton? “Maybe he should have stopped last year”, Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko is quoted at motorsport-total.com. After 103 race wins and countless other records – but above all after seven world titles. Hamilton, 37, was deeply frustrated at the lost WM-Finale 2021 to be noted for months and may still not be overcome today. Maybe never.
Everything seemed to have been staged as if the knighted Briton, the sole eight-time world champion, would be able to retire from motorsport. And then the wild Max Verstappen ruined all his plans. Even if the FIA came to the conclusion in its final statement on the investigation of the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi that the race management made mistakes.
Hamilton doesn’t make headlines anymore
Hamilton is currently finding it difficult to commit to his goals, which often go beyond motorsport (“Black Lives Matter“) to make it strong: The headlines about the superstar are currently missing. And so the message almost leaked out that the actually designated fan of the football club Arsenal FC himself at the city and league competitor Chelsea FC wants to shop. It’s about them “Promoting Community Education and Inclusion”Hamilton is quoted as saying, “Chelsea has been at the forefront of diversity and inclusion work.”
Hamilton wants ten million of his assets, estimated at 310 million euros, as a member of a consortium led by the former Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton invest. Chelsea is said to be worth 2.5 billion euros, but recently an even more unbelievable five billion were offered.
Is Mercedes threatening the next swatter in Miami?
So all that remains for the well-known Formula 1 driver for years is to look forward to the new race track in Florida. However, with its fast passages, it should remind you of Albert Park in Australia.
And while Mercedes wants to continue experimenting there with the “hopping” of the rear axle of Hamilton and Russell’s emergency vehicle (that “bouncing” is currently one of the biggest problems for the Mercedes engineers, ed.), the next defeat could be waiting in Miami: Ferrari and Red Bull were significantly faster than the “Silver Arrows” in Australia. They’ve been there all season.