As of: March 30, 2024, 7:47 a.m
By: Hannes Niemeyer
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Bumpy start to the season for Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes is lagging behind expectations. A Formula 1 expert explains the record world champion's great weakness.
Munich – Lewis Hamilton is making headlines in Formula 1. Actually nothing unusual, as the record world champion in the premier motorsport class is one of the most dazzling sports personalities in the world. What is unusual, however, is that the headlines are determined much more by the announcement that Hamilton made before the still young racing series in 2024 than by the sporting achievements that the Briton delivered in the first three races.
Shortly before the start of the season it was announced that Hamilton would be leaving Mercedes after the current racing series and joining Ferrari. Of course, since then there has been a lot of speculation about who could take the vacant seat next to George Russell at Mercedes. Some experts even hope for opportunities for Mick Schumacher. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who recently had a racing car accident himself, is also looking into his own talent area. So there's a lot of hustle and bustle around Hamilton. Because of his sporting performance, Hamilton is unlikely to make it onto the front pages.
Problems at Mercedes in the new Formula 1 season – Hamilton is chasing his own standards
At the start of the season, the 39-year-old only finished 7th in Bahrain and only 9th in Saudi Arabia. Places that not only do not meet Mercedes' high standards. Both times the record world champion was also behind his teammate Russell. In the third race in Melbourne he even had to park his car after 17 laps due to a technical problem. The veteran then called his racing weekend in Australia a “real battle”. Reason enough for a Formula 1 expert to give Hamilton a solid count.
Too “spoiled”? Formula 1 expert Surer has a piquant theory about Lewis Hamilton's weak start to the season. © IMAGO / ZUMA Wire + IMAGO / HochZwei + IMAGO / Beautiful Sports
After years of dominance and numerous world championship titles at driver and constructor level, Mercedes has been in something of a mini-crisis since 2022. Hamilton's performance is also simply not right at the moment. Of course, unlike another F1 driver, Hamilton's seat is in no way in danger during the season. But you can see that “the car is not right,” says Marc Surer, himself a former Formula 1 racing driver and expert in the motorsport field, in an interview with Formula-1.de that was uploaded to YouTube. There he also puts forward a spicy thesis about superstar Hamilton.
“Lewis can’t do it”: Formula 1 expert puts forward a juicy theory about Hamilton
“If the car is not good, then the Russell drives better,” analyzes Surer and provides the reasons for this. Russell had to “fight through” his former team Williams for years with a weaker car. On the other hand, there was Hamilton, who “only ever drove the best cars”. Surer's provocative thesis: "If the car doesn't do what Lewis wants, then he has a problem." This is exactly the situation we have at Mercedes at the moment.
Teammate Russell, on the other hand, can “live with compromises,” claims Surer and draws a comparison to former world champion Fernando Alonso, who is supposedly on the list at Red Bull. “These are people who can easily adapt to the car. Lewis can't do that." But you still don't have to give up hope for a good season. Even last year, when the car was optimized over time and then performed better in the race, “the old Lewis was back again,” Surer continued.
“Maybe spoiled”: Ex-Formula 1 driver Marc Surer explains a major “weakness” of Hamilton
Nevertheless, Hamilton's "weakness" lies precisely in this lack of flexibility, this unwillingness to compromise, explains the ex-racing driver - he is "perhaps spoiled". Even in Formula 3 and Formula 2, Hamilton was always “practically in the best team”. If Hamilton had to fight with the car, he would lose instead. But Hamilton can also do something different: “If the car is good, then he surpasses himself,” says Surer. You don't become a record world champion from nothing and nothing.
Far away from the world championship title, but who started the season really well, is also the last remaining German driver in Formula 1. Nico Hülkenberg had a strong first race in the Haas. Nevertheless, Hülkenberg's team has already drawn conclusions because of an incident. The fan favorite has not yet completely secured his seat at Haas for the coming season.
(han)