He built his prestige based on talent, fighting people who discriminated against him for being black, and results, of course. Lewis Hamilton has money, fame, multiple advertising contracts and seven Formula 1 titles, the last four consecutive wins between 2017 and 2020. But like any winner, he needs to savor more glory.

If he lost the championship last year in the last round of the season, in Abu Dhabi, he left it typing without knowing if this will continue, the bad start in 2022 has opened up a big problem: not just the Mercedes is below Red Bull and Ferrari but George Russell, his colleague, is faster than him.

Whenever top-flight journalists ask how he explained Russell who preceded him, Hamilton’s response was: “I can’t explain right now.”

In the first races of the season, this was the “rattle” observed in the Mercedes, bouncing on the tracks. And in Spain, although he improved, he said after qualifying: “I’m having a hard time with the car. I can’t control the back of the car.” This weekend is the Monaco Grand Prix. A whole classic. What will happen?

The start was encouraging in Bahrain, where Hamilton was fifth in qualifying and climbed to third on the podium behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, followed by Russell. But since then the results slide has begun.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Lewis failed at settled 1, started in 16th and finished in tenth, while his Mercedes companion started in sixth, finished in fifth and has since surpassed him in the championship. In Melbourne, Australia, Russell started in sixth – a spot behind Hamilton – but finished third, a position better than his compatriot. And at Emilia Romagna GP, Mercedes suffered the resultsalthough the trend continued: Russell was 11th and Hamilton, 14th.

Formula 1 moved to the United States and all the better for Lewis, the center of attention of the show timewith golf on the side Tom Brady. But the seven-time champion, who started and finished in sixth, was one spot behind Russell, who started from 12th place.

The negative streak continued against his teammate in Montmeló, where George started in fourth and finished third, while Lewis started in sixth and finished in fifth, although he recovered from a puncture in the left front wheel because in a lump from Kevin Magnussen.

“I hope we get better”

If he was worried, Hamilton would prefer not to show it. And then he appeals to optimism in his dialectic. “I have 100% confidence in the team. After these races, we see that we have an idea of ​​the direction we need to go. And now we just have to wait for the engineers and aerodynamicists to come up with more parts that we can progress. ”, he assured.

And he’s already thinking about the next Grand Prix: “In places like Monaco, with slower corners, Hopefully we are better. That’s positive, ”Hamilton hopes.

What reasons does Lewis need to rejoice in the improvements? First of all, he felt that returning from racing in Barcelona after the piercing was “like a success”. He went even further. celebrate, “he said.

Hamilton will come to Principality in sixth place in the championship, with 46 points, 28 points behind Russell, who is trying to fight for third place against Sergio Perez (Red Bull), which added 85.

Will he be optimistic to get back and catch up with his teammate? Will he recover from that mystery that propelled him to win 7 titles and three times in Monaco (2008, 2016 and 2019)? Urgent phone for Mercedes.

HS