No matter how many world championships Lewis Hamilton has racked up over the years, there was nothing to soften the brunt of his defeat in the way he won the 2021 world championship.
Having stayed out of the public eye as the season ended gracefully, Hamilton finally reappeared at Mercedes’ February launch. They started 2022 determined to reassert their dominance over Red Bull and the rest of the grid, but instead endured a decade-long partnership.
The W13 had obvious fundamental problems from the first run and was not improved by testing. The eight-time constructors’ champion showed up for the Bahrain test with eye-catching side pads, thin to the point of existence, and was shocked by the lack of results expected.
The car was far off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull – a point confirmed beyond doubt when Hamilton was fifth on the grid to start the race in Bahrain behind the four. Indeed, keeping the rest of the midfielders back has been a challenge in the first half of the season.
Despite the relative lack of performance from W13, Hamilton did his best to take an unexpected podium position behind the Ferraris due to Red Bull’s double crash late in the race. But Mercedes knew they had a mountain to climb to solve the major problems with their new underground car, and if they were even going to challenge their headlines, they had to find a solution to their climate and lack of power. year.
In the year The first rounds of 2022 effectively became test periods for both Mercedes drivers – mainly the more experienced Hamilton – plowing through a number of test sections and settings to help the team at Brackley work out how to solve their problems. But Hamilton was still competing in these early weekends and in Jeddah he had perhaps his worst performance of the season. Failing to make it out of the first qualifying round, he gradually moved up the race, but missed the chance to get under the Virtual Safety Car and came home in tenth in the final points, five places behind Russell.
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans fan and
Mercedes were once again the best of the front runners in Melbourne, but Hamilton was far better in the matter, losing a podium spot to his team-mate after the safety car was deployed at the earliest opportunity for Russell. But Imola was poor. Hamilton never threatened the points once over the three days, spending nearly 40 laps stuck behind Pierre Gasly and unable to pass, eventually finishing 13th as Russell took fourth.
It wasn’t Mercedes’ best moment in the Alfa Romeo of former team-mate Valtteri Bottas in Miami, but in the race Hamilton was unlucky to finish behind his current team-mate after another handy safety car in favor of Russell. Hamilton has been the lowest-placed driver of the top three teams this season, 23 points behind his new team-mate and one point clear of sixth-placed Lando Norris.
Then, in the Spanish team’s first major overhaul, Hamilton put in the kind of performance many have come to expect from the sport’s most successful driver of all time. Hamilton rejoined the circuit a minute behind the rest of the field as he crawled into the pits after a collision with Kevin Magnussen. Over the remaining 65 laps, he charged through the field at an impressive pace and climbed up to fourth. While his late exit forced Mercedes to slow down and cost him fourth place in the final, Hamilton was as elite as ever for the first time all season.
But as Mercedes continue to throw everything they can at improving their cars, the W13 seems even more uncomfortable to drive. Back-to-back street circuits in Monaco and Azerbaijan saw the car go down hard and Hamilton described his drive to fourth place in Baku as a painful race. Another round of testing in Montreal practice was described as a “disaster” by Hamilton, but in the race Russell led home and took third to complete his second podium of the season.
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans fan and
As Mercedes slowly made gains in W13, Hamilton led the race at home for the first time this year (Russell was already in Spain). For the first time he saw a real, but slim, chance of fighting for the win, inheriting the lead in the pit stop cycle before a fatal safety car. After an exciting three-way trip with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, Hamilton overtook Ferrari for a second successive podium in third place.
Hamilton had put a torturous start to the season behind him and was now in the midst of several podiums. He bounced back from a slump in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring to climb to third, then followed Max Verstap home to second place with Paul Ricard – his best finish of the year to date. Heading into the summer break, he repeated his success in Hungary and is still in sixth place but links up well with Russell and Carlos Sainz Jr.
But back at Spa, Mercedes were no longer in the same league as Ferrari and Red Bull. A misjudgment at the start saw Hamilton drive into Fernando Alonso, throwing his car into the air and leading to his first retirement of the season. With the pace of Zandvoort’s Mercedes more competitive, Hamilton found himself back in the lead for just the fourth time all season. But after Verstappen, Russell and Charles Leclerc got stuck under the safety car late on, with all three passing him after the restart.
Despite the improved form of the car, Hamilton was far from infallible at the end of the season. The race in wet Singapore was messy, with Sainz crashing into the barrier he was chasing and breaking his front wing. He spent 16 laps in Japan stuck behind Esteban Ocon’s Alpine – the car he expects to finish in the championship at this stage – before taking the checkered flag in fifth, less than a second behind him.
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans fan and
With a handful of races remaining, Mercedes and Hamilton were unlikely to win. He fought hard to challenge Verstappen in the United States but had to sit down for second after Verstappen caught him with seven laps to go. As Hamilton followed the world champion home in Mexico a week later, Verstappen was too quick to do anything.
But then came Brazil. Hamilton delighted his new home fans by finishing second behind Russell at the start of the race after receiving Brazilian citizenship in a rare parliamentary ceremony the weekend before. But when Verstappen attacked after the safety car restarted, the two rivals collided and damaged his car. Despite the outcry, Hamilton struggled to finish second behind his team-mate in the last ten green flag races to win the race. Russell held his nerve and Hamilton could only follow his team-mate home, still securing Mercedes’ long-awaited first win of the year with a one-two finish.
Hamilton ended years of disappointing seasons with a stunning performance in Abu Dhabi. He should have qualified higher than fifth but made a mistake on the final lap, then got caught cutting the chicane in place, eventually having to be told to take the place back late. Running fourth in the closing laps, his race and season ended with hydraulic problems four laps down. Finally, he no longer had to race W13 again.
Although most of Hamilton’s early problems can be attributed to the team throwing everything away and finding a kitchen sink solution to their car’s problems, he was still outmatched and beaten by his new teammate more often than he expected. A driver of Hamilton’s caliber. However, he showed that he is still the same great driver in the second half of the season.
With Mercedes now back at the forefront of the battle, its rivals had better prepare to battle it out again and again in 2023.
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans fan and
2022 F1 season review
Browse all 2022 F1 season review articles
