Lewis Hamilton dominated F1 for a huge period of time, and his winning races week in and week out became a norm in the sport. Between 2014 and 2021, the Briton won six World Titles, while finishing second in the two years he did not win. 2022, however, was a very different story for him.
Mercedes did not cope with the regulation changes of 2022 as well as Red Bull or Ferrari did. The latter two teams were competing for race wins from the very get-go, whereas Hamilton couldn’t break into the top four. According to former F1 driver and current Sky Sports analyst Karun Chandhok, this affected his motivation and desire to do better.
The start of the year went very well for George Russell, but it took Hamilton a lot of time to get used to the W13. That’s why we saw the 7-time World Champion struggle in the opening races of 2022.
Lewis Hamilton had a wake-up call in the middle part of 2022
As the year progressed, Hamilton and Mercedes’ performance began to get better. Russell was outperforming his legendary teammate in the opening few rounds, but that too started to change with time. According to Chandhok, Hamilton’s hunger to not let Russell defeat him is what led to him having a ‘wake-up call’.
“At the start of the year, it was looking really good for Russell, he was regularly outqualifying Lewis,” said Chandhok to Sky Sports
“I think he had a bit of a wake-up call in that middle part of the year,” he continued. “When Lewis lifted his game, and I think George went on a run where he couldn’t get ahead. I think he thought ‘woah, I’ve woken the beast!”
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Karun Chandhok compares Hamilton’s 2022 to Ayrton Senna’s 1993
Today, Hamilton is regarded as the best driver of his generation but that title belonged to Ayrton Senna back in 1993. According to Chandhok, Senna too struggled for motivation because of an underperforming car that year, but he picked himself up to show his brilliance regardless.
“Lewis, I’m sure his motivation wasn’t there,” he added. “And I can understand that. It reminded me of Senna in 1993, this was a guy who was the number one driver of his generation, he arrives at the opening race and goes: God, I’m only capable of qualifying on the third row of the grid. Where’s the motivation?”
Hamilton had a very tough 2022, and it was the first time ever in his F1 career that he went through an entire season without a race win. However, Mercedes did show signs of progress towards the end, which should make Hamilton optimistic about the upcoming campaign.
