Is Hamilton fading away?
After a very long season, we are evaluating every driver and teams. Our first article of the series is about if not the great, one of the greatest Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Formula 1 can be a cruel sport. No amount of record is ever safe here, and no amount of past glory can save a driver. If a driver is slow, the team will not think twice to drop him.
Lewis Hamilton has won 6 out of 7 championships with Mercedes. This much information should be enough for him to stay with the team but looking at his recent performance the question remains if he is still the old ruthless driver.
Hamilton hasn't performed bad in any way this season. 9 podiums in a season is never a bad number. But from fighting championships to fight for podium is not something Hamilton had hoped for.
Of course, Mercedes W13 is to blame. Although it is a team sport, but drivers are the main focus, and they go for their personal achievements too.
Hamilton tried to do it throughout the season. Unfortunately, he could not extend his record of wins in consecutive season.
But Mercedes did manage to achieve the target and win. George Russell in his first season with the team gave them the valuable win with dominating whole Brazilian GP weekend.
Hamilton managed 2nd in the same race, with an early tussle with Max Verstappen. If we look back in the season, Hamilton did a lot of unnecessary battles with several drivers on his hunt for win.
This has in many cases hurt Mercedes team overall, on a season they were slow and had to be consistent to beat Ferrari.
Some may say this is the worst car Hamilton have driven. But in this worst car his teammate Russell managed a pole position and win.
So, the question remains, is Hamilton going to call it quits after 2023 or Mercedes make the tough call. There is another possibility of him taking the role of Kimi Raikkonen 2nd run in Ferrari helping Sebastian Vettel.
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