He is not feeling right.
Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion is not far from having a little depression.
Only 10th Sunday of the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia, the Briton seems to have already given up on a possible eighth world title.
Proof of his distress, he was surprised during an exchange with his engineers that the tenth of a Grand Prix still scores a point in the drivers' classification.
Proof that it is indeed a place he does not know at all.
🗨️ "We're so slow, I couldn't even hold the Haas at the end (...)"
Lewis Hamilton's immense disappointment after the #SaudiArabianGP 🎙️
▶️ https://t.co/7plkVVV12v pic.twitter. com/OUDenPvJCO
– CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) March 27, 2022
After only two races, Lewis Hamilton seems unable to compete with the two best drivers of the moment, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
He is in 6th place in the provisional general classification, already 29 points behind the Monegasque.
“I couldn't even hold back the Haas, there's a lot of work, said the Englishman very bitterly after the race.
In terms of balance, the car was fine, but not fast enough.
We are so slow.
The end result isn't great.
I had trouble with the temperature of the tyres
”.
Annoyed, Hamilton added: “It's grueling but we have to keep fighting, that's all we can do.
I know I have a great team and we'll just keep our heads down for better days.
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A W13 just not up to scratch
But why is Lewis Hamilton going through such a bad patch?
Several factors explain this.
Already, he did not want to compete in this Grand Prix in Arabia.
A few hours before the race, an oil site located a few kilometers from the Jeddah circuit suffered a drone attack claimed by Yemeni Houthi rebels.
Hamilton did not want to stay in Saudi Arabia after this attack.
“I can't wait to go home,” he said before being eliminated from Q1 for the first time in 5 years.
Only, the great circus of F1 decided otherwise.
In 2020, when F1 resumed during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hamilton dropped three words that summed up his state of mind: "Cash is king".
Despite the risk,
the grand barnum ignored the bombing threats, and Hamilton turned the phrase around in his head.
Yes money is king and even if he wins millions he regrets it.
Undoubtedly not mentally recovered from the end of the previous season when Verstappen blew him the title on the last lap of the last race, Lewis Hamilton is above all at the wheel of a car which is unable to compete, for the moment, with the Reds Bull or the Ferraris.
His Mercedes W13 currently looks more like a clunker than an F1 racing car.
“We are still groping with the settings, we are looking for each other.
We must continue to fight because our place is not acceptable, ”confirms the boss of the German team Toto Wolff.
Unaccustomed to being a driver like the others, to simply hoping to get into the points, how long will Lewis Hamilton endure it?
