Lewis Hamilton will get a major push from Mercedes for a race win for the first time this season at the Red Bull Ring.
At the start of the 2022 Formula one season, Lewis Hamilton struggled to get the best of the Mercedes W13. The 7-time World Champion was battling porpoising, while Mercedes lacked the straight-line speed compared to Ferrari and Red Bull.
Hamilton had remarked the new-generational car was unable to compete against its competitors. While Hamilton endured a painful Q1 exit in Saudi Arabia, his teammate George Russell managed to consistently finish in the top 5 until the 2022 British GP.
Mercedes have spent hours researching the possible ways to solve their ‘bouncing’ problem. And with 2 consecutive 3rd place results, Hamilton is looking resurgent and has clawed on to 6th place in the driver’s standings.
According to Michael Schmidt, Mercedes are planning a major set of upgrades on the floor and underbody aerodynamics of the W13. The German reported that the team are confident this upgrade will be a missing piece in the puzzle.
“At Mercedes, they are not sure how Spielberg will work out for them. It will be a good circuit to see how good the updates from Silverstone really are. They told me that they [Mercedes] will now bring small upgrades every race, all these upgrades will be floor related.”
“Mercedes will take these upgrades all the way to Budapest. That is the big test to see if they have completely fixed the bouncing. If everything works there, Mercedes think they can win races on their own in the second half of the season,” Schmidt reported.
Can Lewis Hamilton win a race in 2022?
Lewis Hamilton holds a very unique record for having won at least one race every year since his debut in 2008. The Brit has also finished on the podium and led at least one lap each year ever since his debut.
But with Mercedes and Hamilton struggling in the new hybrid era cars, critics felt the records would be broken this season. But with a strong performance in the 2022 British GP where Hamilton was contending for the win.
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGUK/status/1544367441257541633
Lewis found himself battling for the top two spots with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. He even set the fastest lap time of the day with a 1:30.510 in the last lap of the race.
Although Mercedes lost the battle of pace to Red Bull and Ferrari, they seemed to have no trouble with tyres. And based on his current form, Lewis seems to have found his rhythm in the 2022 Mercedes W13. So what next but the first win of the season for the 7-time World Champion!
