Lewis Hamilton had a rather disappointing season this year. Regardless the 7-time world champion believes another year to be the ‘hardest’ for him.
The start of the 2022 season was not what Mercedes expected. The new regulations affected Mercedes arguably the worst among the front runners. The team was plagued with the newly discovered porpoising which specifically affected Hamilton even more.
Lewis Hamilton finished this season without a win after retiring in Abu Dhabi due to a mechanical issue. This is the first time the seven-time world champion failed to score even a single win in a complete F1 season in his career.
Hamilton also finished behind his teammate George Russel. This is only the third time the Briton failed to outscore his teammate in his 16-year career.
Lewis Hamilton rates 2011 as the worst season
After such a disappointing season, Hamilton was asked if this was the worst season for him, Hamilton replied:
“No, I think 2011 was probably the hardest year I had, just in terms of life.
“This year is not the greatest, it is up there with probably the top three of the worst seasons, but it’s been a much stronger year in terms of myself, in terms of how it worked with the team, how we’ve all stayed united. So I think there’s been lots of pluses.”
“I am very pleased it is over and done with,” Hamilton added.
“I always believed right until the last race that there was potentially a chance. So I think it’s important to hold on to hope and, and just keep working.
“I gave it everything and I think it was ultimately the last race was almost like the whole season – it summed up my whole year.”
Hamilton also commented regarding his record of having at least one win in every F1 season he drove in:
“Honestly, it would have been nice to have a win, but one win is not really enough is it?” Hamilton said.
“So I feel like this year, when we got our first fifth, it felt like a win. When we got our first fourth, it felt like a win.
“When we got our first podium, it felt like a win and those seconds felt like as if we really achieved something, so I’ll just hold on to those.”
Lewis looking forward not to driving W13 again
Before the Abu Dhabi GP, Hamilton was asked about the issues with W13 and how Mercedes plans to tackle it. On this, the Briton responded:
“Brakes, bouncing is probably number one, drag is probably number two,” he said. “Or equal number one. There’s loads of other things.
“We’ve obviously got some downforce, we just need to build a much more efficient car. And I think everybody in the team knows exactly what are the problems, and where they are, and where we’ve gone wrong and I’m pretty confident that they’re not going to build the next car with any of those characteristics.
“So I’m looking forward to the end of Tuesday, which is the last time I have to drive this thing. And I don’t ever plan to drive this one again. It won’t be one of the cars that I request to have in a contract!”
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