On Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the seven-time world champion has the last chance to maintain his record of victories in all the seasons in which he has raced, but the team principal is not open to favoritism for him: “The priority is to bring the car back to high levels, even in view of 2023. He and George are free to race as happened in Brazil”
November 15th
– Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Lewis Hamilton’s record is highly at risk of interruption, but Mercedes will not give priority to this, at least according to team principal Toto Wolff. The 2022 World Championship ends in Abu Dhabi on Sunday and Hamilton, still dry this year, has one last chance to try to win a race, thus saving the extraordinary record he held: that of having always triumphed in at least one GP in all the seasons in which it has raced in F1, i.e. continuously since its debut in 2007.
dry mouth
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The risk of a dry-mouthed first season for Lewis is concrete, also considering that this year Mercedes managed to find good competitiveness only in the last two races and the victory on Sunday in Brazil, however with George Russell. Toto Wolff, however, when questioned by the British media at Interlagos on Sunday about the possible “support” for Lewis in Abu Dhabi based on the record, ruled out this hypothesis: “I think Lewis doesn’t need any priority and that’s not what he would like never – Wolff said – this record of victories in every single season is not a priority for him, it is more to bring the car back to its level, in the race for victories and hopefully for next year’s championship”.
free run
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On Sunday at Interlagos the Mercedes brought home a double, with Russell and Hamilton dueling in the closing laps, free to race. “As a team, we have always fought for free races – Wolff specified – we have never done otherwise unless one driver was arithmetically more in contention than the other for a championship. We had talked about it before the race, we didn’t see the now that they could duel on equal terms with the same rubber compound.”
russell’s request
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In the final part of the race Russell also asked the pits, after Hamilton’s rejoining for the Safety Car, if they were in the running or the positions were acquired. George explained to journalists that he understood the open race situation: “We have always said that we are free to race – he said – Toto and the team have placed a lot of trust in Lewis and me and this year there has been a lot of mutual respect I just wanted to understand the situation because I knew how important this one-two was for the team, if we hadn’t been in a free-race, it would have been equivalent to bringing the car home without risk. what happened, the riding must be at qualifying levels at each lap, they all need to be perfect. Obviously I’m happy to have won like this”.
November 15, 2022 – 10:35 am
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