Lewis Hamilton feels that it is too early to claim that 2022 Champion Max Verstappen has kickstarted his era of dominance.
Between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes completely dominated the sport. The Silver Arrows won all eight Constructors’ Championships and Hamilton himself won six Titles in the time. No other team was able to put up a strong challenge other than Red Bull in 2021.
In 2021, it was Verstappen who finally dethroned Hamilton to win his first Championship. However, in 2022, Red Bull coasted home to winning both World Titles with races to spare. Verstappen won his second Title in a row and this time he won it with four races to spare. Red Bull won their first Constructors’ Title since 2013 at the US Grand Prix last week to close out the season.
Mercedes did not cope well with the regulation changes this season. On top of that, Hamilton is win-less with just three races to go. This means that if the Brit does not win a race in the remaining three rounds, it’ll be his first win-less season in F1. Verstappen meanwhile has already won 13 races and if he wins the remaining three, he will officially have the most dominant season in F1 history.
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Ferrari may catch up to Red Bull, says Lewis Hamilton
If Verstappen wins the final three races in 2022, he’ll have 16 wins which are three more than Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s world record. On top of that, he’ll have the second highest race-winning percentage in a season, in F1 history, surpassing Schumacher himself.
If Red Bull keeps their car performance up and Verstappen maintains his form, we may be witnessing the start of a new dominant era. Hamilton, however, rules this out.
Lewis and Max put on a great show 🍿#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/QdIVZQ9cE7
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2022
He feels that Ferrari is close to Red Bull and is actually better in qualifying. As a result, the gap between them may be closed out in the 2023 season, something he is really looking forward to. The 7-time World Champion is also adamant that they will be in the mix for the Title next season.
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Hamilton eyeing eighth World Title in 2023
Mercedes had a very underwhelming year as they failed to cope with the regulation changes as well as Ferrari or Red Bull did. If they don’t win in Mexico, Brazil or Abu Dhabi, it will be their first win-less year as a team since the 2013 season.
“I think we’ve got a much, much bigger step and steeper hill to climb, but hopefully not impossible,” he said after the US Grand Prix.
P2! Some tough racing out there, it
wasn’t easy but we are taking away a good result. Thank you @MercedesAMGF1 for all the hard work this weekend. Let’s keep this momentum going for Mexico, see you all next week ~ pic.twitter.com/lJPfpj2WjM— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 24, 2022
Hamilton believes that they are on the right track. While he’s sure about Ferrari’s rise to the top once again next year, he also added that they’ll be right up there with them. He admitted that it’ll be difficult to recover and bounce back, but he trusts in the team with whom he won Six World Championships.
