What a difference a year makes, or in the case of Formula One, a matter of months. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought each other until the better end for the championship in the 2021 season. While the Red Bull driver has continued to stay at the top of the sport, the Mercedes driver has fallen down into the clutches of midfield.

This scenario was clear none more so than in the sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Verstappen managed to convert his pole position into a victory at the Sprint race while Hamilton started from P13 and finished at P14. In the end, the 7-time world champion finished more than 41 seconds behind the young Dutch driver.

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The Mercedes is a difficult car to drive which lacks the performance and raw speed to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari. Hamilton compared the 2022 Mercedes to the 2009 McLaren as the worst car he has ever driven.

Lewis Hamilton blasts Mercedes’s W13 after sprint race debacle

Hamilton got a bad start and fell back down the order to P15 after the first lap of the sprint race. But he managed to get past the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the track but could not challenge Yuki Tsunoda. Lewis revealed he has driven bad cars in his career before and this year’s Mercedes is comparable to the 2009 McLaren.

“There are people that watch and say that I’ve never had a bad car. And I can assure you I have. The 2009 car was very, very far off, and was the worst car that I’ve had. This car currently is not far off that experience, but I think has a lot of potential,” said Hamilton.

“As did that car, we fixed it eventually and got back in the fight, or in the game. And I have the utmost faith that my team can do that here too,” said the Mercedes driver.

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It would be fascinating to see if Mercedes and Hamilton can find a way to get back to their competitive ways in 2022. But it is indeed a big statement made by the 7-time world champion comparing the championship-winning team to the 2009 McLaren.