Lewis Hamilton is confident that recent upgrades at Mercedes are in the right direction and will allow him to win a race later this year. Since the introduction of the new regulations in the current season, this has not been granted to the team, which is otherwise used to success.
Both Hamilton and his teammate George Russell repeatedly struggled with “porpoising”, which prevented them from getting the full performance of the W13. But Mercedes seemed to have made a step forward at last weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Hamilton was able to fight for victory with the Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at times and finally finished third. In his Formula 1 career since 2007, the Brit has never had a season without a race win – and 2022 should be no exception.
The seven-time world champion admits that at the start of the season he “definitely wasn’t sure we were going to win with this car”. While that’s not the way the team thinks, “it felt like there was a long, long way to go to catch up,” Hamilton said.
Two last races give impetus
But the latest developments are “very encouraging”. “For a long, long time we’ve made changes and haven’t seen them do what they promise or improve the car. It was a good step at Barcelona, but after that we had some difficult races,” he recalls.
“Then we had this last race, the last two races, which were pretty strong and that really encouraged us that we’re going in the right direction, that the car really has potential.” Because Hamilton made it onto the podium twice.
“Hopefully with a little more work we can get closer to a chance of winning a race. I really think we can win a race this year.”
While Mercedes was still struggling on the street circuits in Monaco and Azerbaijan, the team was able to assert itself better in Canada and played to its strengths at Silverstone. Without the late safety car phase, Hamilton believes he would have won.
George Russell, on the other hand, retired early from his home race after being involved in the first-corner incident that led to Zhou Guanyu’s dramatic accident. This also ended the Briton’s record of finishing in the top 5 in every race that year.
Russell exercises restraint
Russell did not want to express himself as confidently as Hamilton about the progress of Mercedes. “I don’t think we should overdo it,” he says. “I think Silverstone is a very unique track in terms of the cornering speeds you drive there.”
“We clearly have a lot of downforce and good potential on a track like Silverstone. We’re going to a different track here (in Spielberg; editor’s note) that’s more medium-fast and not as fast. So we need to keep evaluating ” Russell warns.
“Silverstone was a really good step. We got some good lessons there but we need to confirm them this weekend.”