F1: Lewis Hamilton “Really Needs A Fast Car” to Perform Well Says Ex-Mercedes Engineer
Lewis Hamilton has had one hell of a racing career with 7 world titles to his name alongside the legendary Michael Schumacher. But why is he finding the 2022 season so difficult? Mercedes teammate George Russell is showing huge promise as he becomes the only driver this season to keep within the top 5 for each of the 7 races so far, but Hamilton is 34 points behind the Brit as he struggles with the W13.
Hamilton’s first year at F1 saw him fight for the championship. The second year he took the championship with McLaren. Then, after a move to Mercedes, he won six titles between 2014 and 2020. 2021 saw the controversial win from Max Verstappen, but even then the title came down to the last race – and we all know how that went.
But now, as Mercedes struggles to put together a car with the performance necessary for a championship win, he’s really starting to struggle.
Philipp Brändle, former Mercedes engineer, has admitted that he believes this is because Hamilton isn’t technically minded, and therefore needs a fast car to perform well:
”He’s really a driver who needs a lot of confidence in the car. He doesn’t have the technical background that Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher had. He needs confidence and therefore a really fast car,” he said talking about Hamilton during an interview with ServusTV ‘s Sport und Talk program.
After yet another questionable drive during the Monaco Grand Prix, fans of the driver are really starting to wonder what’s making this so difficult for him. Mercedes chief Toto Wolff believes it’s just bad luck:
“I think when you look at the bad spells that Lewis had – I mean look at the race today, stuck again, contact with Esteban, stuck behind Fernando, the red flag in qualifying and then you know what happened in races before…” Wolff said after the Monaco GP.
“I think the pendulum will swing so that these unlucky situations will stop with Lewis.
“He could have been right there and closed on Lando’s [Norris] pit stop window or even fight with George and Lando in the front because that was his pace.
“They are very much on the same pace, one practice the one leads, then the other, and that is great how also they work together to get our car straight, because we need to get that car straight.”
