Lewis Hamilton explained that it is frustrating to give the maximum on the track and still be more than 1s behind the fastest. The Englishman stated that Mercedes is already working on the W13 to know what not to take to next year's car
About to perform his 300th Formula 1 GP, Lewis Hamilton lives with a reality very different from the one seen in the last eight seasons, when he destroyed records and equaled Michael Schumacher's seven titles. In 2022, however, Mercedes remains in a fight against time to at least get back to winning in the category, and the Englishman admitted that he is starting to change his focus for next year.
It is now 12 races without winning in F1 - the last one was in Saudi Arabia last year -, a personal fast. And as much as the Brackley team insists on not letting go of the W13 development, the truth is that Hamilton already sees this year as a learning process for 2023.
"It's not that it's discouraging, but it's that you go out to do a lap, and they're like, 'You're 1s7 behind,'" said Hamilton, who set the fourth fastest time in qualifying at Paul Ricard on Saturday (23). "Then you do a really good lap, and you're still 1s1 [from the fastest] and you're like, 'Wow!' There's nothing I can do to change that," he lamented.
"Of course everyone is working as hard as they can, and we always bring in little things each weekend to try to improve, but sometimes it doesn't make a difference. It's definitely something difficult for everyone," continued the Englishman.
Mercedes has been in a season of many ups and downs, but had good performances in England and Austria, races in which Hamilton came third and showed a strong pace. The team's strength is also reliability - something that, for example, has already done a lot of damage to the current leaders Red Bull and Ferrari, with their drivers dropping out due to breakdowns.
The ghost of porpoising, which gave the team a lot of headaches in the first half, also seems to be a thing of the past, even though the team still suffers from stiffness, but to a much lesser extent. However, the disadvantage is still too big for the frontrunners, and the most Mercedes has achieved is to stand alone as the third force in the 2022 season.
"I'm focused, as I said at the beginning, on just trying to understand this car more. I'm really working aligned with the team to say 'These are the parts of this car that I want and these are the parts I don't want for next year's car,'" the seven-time champion stressed. "I try to guide that at least... I hope we get to a better place at the end of the year, but next year's car is one we can fight with," he concluded.