Mercedes Reveal Lewis Hamilton Stepping Beyond His Driver Role to Invest in the Problematic W-13: “Was Using His Wealth of Experience…”

It has been a rare sight to see Lewis Hamilton struggling for pace from his car. But the Mercedes W13 car was certainly the nightmare for the 7-time champion, as he was all over the place in the first half of 2022. Yet Hamilton persisted in getting his team out of the tricky situation.

Lewis Hamilton knew 2022 was not going to be the year when he should focus on ultimate performance. The Briton invested himself in trying several experimental setups to get the W13 to the ultimate pace.

Mercedes’ Engineering director Andrew Shovlin and chief strategist James Vowles explain in a debrief video how both their drivers were focused on different things during the seasons. James said about Lewis, “At the beginning of the year when we had a car that was difficult.”

“Lewis [Hamilton] was using his wealth of experience to help us in order to improve the car and really help us in moving forward as a part of the team.”

Lewis does not look at anything less than a title fight with Mercedes. Even though they knew it was not likely, they gave a shot at it to get the car to the front in 2022.

On the other hand, they also touched upon how George Russell focused on a different aspect in 2022. James added, “George [Russell] in that period of time was just really focused on learning, bettering himself on to the team. And he scored a number of results that benefitted him as a result of that.”

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Russell and Hamilton never may have thought about championship objectives or beating each other. Both drivers had their separate goals for the season. Especially Lewis’s determination to take Mercedes back to the front showed his commitment to the team.

Who did Lewis Hamilton pick as his Toughest Teammate?

Lewis Hamilton has raced with several teammates in his career so far. While some of them beat him too on the final points tallies, Lewis has a different parameter to pick who was the toughest he faced.

As per Sky Sports, Hamilton picked his 2007 teammate Fernando Alonso. Lewis believes that on pure pace, Alonso is the best out there. The duo had some good battles during their time at McLaren. While the Briton was a rookie back then, Fernando was the reigning double world champion.

Fans vividly remember how gloves off these two went at each other while challenging for the 2007 title. Hamilton showed his intent of not falling behind the Spaniard at the first corner in Australia – which was his first debut race weekend in F1.

Alonso was a dominating teammate and he played several mind games too. The most infamous incident came in Hungary when Fernando blocked Lewis in the pits as the dying minutes of qualifying approached. While he was penalized, many criticized him for his antics.

Nonetheless, the battles that Alonso and Hamilton have given have been a treat to watch over the years. Lewis often gets to witness the Spaniard’s race craft and talent whenever he races with the 41-year-old veteran.

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Russell is a great admirer of Alonso too. And likewise, Fernando has also known and appreciated the young British driver’s skills. Could he give George some tips to take the fight to Lewis?