Lewis Hamilton is arguably one of the best F1 drivers of all time because of how consistently he has outperformed his teammates no matter what car he is in. Only on two occasions has a teammate beat the Briton. One of them was former Meredes teammate Nico Rosberg back in 2016. The other was current Mercedes teammate George Russell last season in Brazil. Since Rosberg has the bragging rights over Hamilton for one season, he has explained (as quoted by mirror.co.uk) how his former arch-rival is currently “really down” following the 38-year-old’s recent struggles against Russell.
Hamilton is currently struggling with Mercedes as he has failed to win a race with the team for almost two years now. The last time the seven-time champion was in a battle for the title was back in 2021 against Max Verstappen, who is currently in a world of domination of his own. Since the Dutchman has been so dominant, Hamilton has also picked fights with him to showcase the displeasure he is currently experiencing at Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton drove the Italian GP with brake problems, which were diagnosed early in the race.
Towards the end of the race, the problem got worse and there were risks of retirement.
His brakes would’ve only lasted 2 more laps, after he would’ve been forced to retire.
[#AMuS] pic.twitter.com/g89JPIC12a
— Mercedes-AMG F1 News (@MercedesNewsUK) September 4, 2023
The Mercedes driver had recently claimed that Verstappen has not had the most difficult of teammates and that all his teammates were better than the ones that the Red Bull driver has had so far. Hence, since frustration has been increasing for Hamilton, Rosberg believes that his former teammate is in a low phase.
Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton is struggling
Nico Rosberg has recently claimed that Lewis Hamilton has been feeling low this past weekend ever since qualifying took place for the Italian Grand Prix. Since the 38-year-old only managed to qualify eighth, he did not see much hope for his race. In his post-qualifying interview, Hamilton had claimed that he was likely to have a difficult race because of how quick Mercedes’ rivals such as McLaren and Williams had been.
Despite giving such pessimistic remarks, the Briton did manage to recover some ground as he managed to finish sixth. Hamilton finished just behind Mercedes teammate George Russell and crucially ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Williams of Alex Albon.
Hamilton went from P8 to P6 on track and gapped albon in the rocketship williams by 7 seconds in 3 laps all with brake issues the whole race.
Also pulled this move to get into 6th place but people tell me he can’t race wheel to wheel.
Goat 🐐 pic.twitter.com/pACnORy21J
— ⁴⁴ (@LH44Tobeyy) September 4, 2023
Since Hamilton had such a below-par week, Rosberg claimed in a recent interview (as quoted by mirror.co.uk), “It can happen that you have a day like that. You can see he’s really down. He still hates to come behind his teammate. That’s still the case“. While Hamilton may indeed be struggling, it is pertinent to note that the is not keen on throwing in the towel just yet.
Hamilton claims he is not finished yet
Lewis Hamilton recently signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes when he made it clear that he was not finished just yet. While signing his new deal, he insisted that he remains committed to doing everything in his potential to help Mercedes return to the top after their recent slump.
“We continue to chase our dreams. We continue to fight no matter the challenge and we will win again. I’m grateful to the team who have supported me both on and off the track. Our story isn’t finished, we are determined to achieve more together and we won’t stop until we do,” explained Hamilton (as quoted by skysports.com).
Hamilton was not the only driver who recently signed a contract extension. George Russell too extended his partnership with Mercedes for another two seasons. Now, both their contracts will expire following the conclusion of the 2025 campaign.
