Lewis Hamilton points out the races he felt pretty good in F1 2022 and where the car worked as he praises the fight he and Mercedes showed.
For Hamilton, the 2022 campaign represented his first ever winless F1 season in 16 years of competition. Mercedes who like all teams had to compete with new rules that came into being this season, coupled with the dreaded porpoising appeared to suffer more than most.
Nonetheless, Hamilton did take nine podiums, five of which were runners up spot. All was not lost for him. While it was not the type of campaign he has now become accustomed to, despite this, he did have several highlights throughout the 22 race campaign.
The Silverstone race was surely up there along with few other grands prix. “Budapest felt great,” said Hamilton. “Zandvoort was good too, and so was Silverstone with the atmosphere and being able to finish on the podium there. Brazil was a highlight for how happy the team was”.
“I was nervous of losing the one-two and was grateful we crossed the line and secured it. I’ve not seen the team that happy in a while, so that felt great, given where I got knocked back to at the start,” summed up Hamilton. The way the season panned out and finished would give a large indication that 2023 could see a return to the sharp end for them.
The 2022 F1 season was slow, irritating and painful at times but looking back there must have been times when there was visible light at the end of the tunnel. “The first big step was Barcelona, that was our first hint of there being more potential in the car,” recalled Hamilton. “It turned out to be a bit of a false positive; the car was good there but then the races afterwards were difficult”.
“It was like a ghost was in the car and it kept coming back. But then there was France and that felt like a good step with our first double podium of the season. And then there was Austin, too, with the update we had working well,” summed up Hamilton. As per above, Mercedes were hit for six by the new rules and more so the porpoising issue affected them way more than most.
Considering where they were in March and and a little earlier in testing to where they finished, surely Hamilton himself can see the changes too. “It’s been impressive, for sure,” he said. “I always knew that we could do it. I never doubted that we would get there in the end, but there was lots of trial and error, and so much failure this year”.
“There were times we brought upgrades and they didn’t work, and times we tried different things and it didn’t work. I tried so many things and failed so many times but through that you learn and grow. That’s what it’s been about this year. It’s been about failure, breaking down egos, strengthening our relationships, and strengthening our communications. From that perspective it’s been really empowering,” summed up Hamilton.
In any sport, what measures a team or individual is the way they come back from a drop from the top and the way they rise back up. Mercedes were no different and finished the season strongly after their early issues. One thing is for that they are hungry to take the fight back to Red Bull in 2023.
Here’s Mercedes pair on moments for Mercedes in 2022
Here’s George Russell on relation with Lewis Hamilton
Here’s Mick Schumacher joining Mercedes
Here’s Mercedes on being tough situation already in testing
Here’s George Russell on Mercedes’ progress
Here’s Toto Wolff on 2021 emotions to 2022
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on no attitude change since 2021
