Seven-time Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton gave an interesting analysis of Mercedes’ performance in the F1 2022 season as he compared it to having mood swings.
Seven-time Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton gave an interesting analysis of Mercedes’ performance in the F1 2022 season as he compared it to having mood swings. The Brit had an extremely difficult race at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend as he qualified more than a second off Max Verstappen’s pole time in qualifying. In stark contrast, his performance has significantly improved at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend as he qualified in fourth place.
Hamilton says Mercedes car has ‘mood swings’
When Motorsport.com asked Lewis Hamilton about his initial level of performance at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, the Brit replied, “There’s hope the potential is there. But I have no idea whether the car is going to be good or bad in the next races. You just have to see when you come. It’s like a mood swing. It’s like the characteristics of a human being. You don’t know which side of the bed it’s going to get out of.”
However, Hamilton admitted that there were things he and the team could have done differently at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend before adding, “We’re just looking at things we can make sure that we’re better prepared from race to race. But just generally, this type of track, just putting the car on it, it works much better with the ride height and all sorts.”
Meanwhile, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explained how last week’s dismal performance helped the team work on the areas for this weekend’s race at Zandvoort. As for last weekend’s performance at the Belgian Grand Prix, Wolff said that that was the worst performance he had seen of the team in the past decade.
“We understand more, and we predicted that this would be a much better race for us based on the learning of Spa, and here we go. We are right there. I think we had a competitive qualifying car. And as it looks from [practice], a quick car in the race too, and so the predictions were right,” explained the Austrian team boss.
Having shown immense promise this weekend in Zandvoort, it will be interesting to see how Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes perform in the main race of the Dutch Grand Prix.