2022 hasn’t been a season Lewis Hamilton would want to remember for long. As the seven-time world champion failed to make a mark this year, he’d probably want to focus on next year as soon as possible. And as per his latest admissions, it seems that the Mercedes man is not very excited about the post-season test that’s coming up soon.
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Although he would have gone into the last race of the season hoping for the elusive win of the season, things didn’t end well for Lewis Hamilton even in the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His race ended prematurely due to a mechanical issue.
But as things stand, the Briton might have to take his W13 out one more time for the post-season testing in Abu Dhabi. The W13 car, which hasn’t been the best Hamilton drove in Mercedes, has been a pain to him all year.
As per GPFans, talking about the same, the 37-year-old reported, “I might be calling a sickie, [pain in] my back or something.”
In case you are not aware, a ‘sickie’ is a day taken as sick leave when one is not actually ill.
Hamilton, who’s known for consistency, finished the latest Abu Dhabi race in DNF. Interestingly, this has been the German team’s first-ever reliability issue this year. This is a staggering statistic nevertheless, given how almost every single team faced this issue throughout the season.
Lewis Hamilton revealed his toughest season in F1 and it’s not 2022
Lewis Hamilton undoubtedly had one of the toughest F1 seasons in his career. The Mercedes man not only failed to challenge Max Verstappen for the title but also could not finish in the Top 3. Moreover, this is the first time since 2016 that he was beaten by his teammate at Mercedes.
#OnThisDay 10 years ago Lewis Hamilton won the #AbuDhabiGP – & what a cool pic of his victorious McLaren MP4-26 this is (taken by Vladimir Rys). #AnorakFact: it was the only GP of the 2011 #F1 season in which neither Red Bull finished on the podium. pic.twitter.com/BFMB6ZAz4a
— Matt Bishop 🏳️🌈 (@TheBishF1) November 13, 2021
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Hamilton finished the season in P6 with 240 points. Despite all this, the Briton shared that 2022 hadn’t been the toughest year in his life. Talking about this, he shared, “I think 2011 was probably the hardest year I have had, just in terms of life.”
“This year is probably not the greatest, up there with the top three of the worst seasons but I think it is a much stronger year in terms of myself, how I have worked with the team and how we have all stayed united,” further asserted the former McLaren driver.
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WATCH THIS STORY: Lewis Hamilton Finds Himself in an Unusual Situation With His Teammate for the First Time Since 2007
In the 2011 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton was still racing with the McLaren F1 team. He finished the season in P5 with 227 points. He raced with compatriot Jenson Button, who finished three places ahead of him with 270 points.