Lewis Hamilton title chances written off “unless something weird happens” in F1 2023 season
After Hamilton’s hopes of a record-setting eighth championship vanished at the controversial 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he spent last season battling with his car’s performance and was helpless as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen racked up a second consecutive title.
The 2023 season-opening 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 Bahrain Grand Prix is ju🍬st days away but there is an air of caut🎉ion, rather than bullishness, around the Mercedes camp.
Kravitz said about Hamilton’s hopes of an all-time record eighth championship: “Is that actually going to happen? Because unless something 🍒really weird happens, Lewis is not going to win an eighth championship this year, is he?
“The word at Mercedes is ‘eventually’. Toto said at the launcᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚh: ‘We have to have a car capable of challeng🌠ing for the championship eventually’.
“168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell said used the word ‘eventually’ twice in one ans𝄹wer!
“Eventually, eventually…
“They꧙ are still catching up from being nine, 10, 11 months behind on last year’s car.”
Hamilton went winless for the first time in his career last season, and Russell took 𝔍Mercedes’ only victory at Interlagos - but Kravitz believes that even that accomplishment was an outlier.
He said: “Red Bull lost all discipline in Brazil. They fought between themselves, they were off the pace, everything went badly, they sh𒁃outed at each other.
“How quickly things can go right agai☂n - Red B﷽ull went to Abu Dhabi and said ‘we are going to dominate again’.
“It is going to take 🍒another year for Mercedes, at least.”
Hamilton, now 38, is expected to sign a new deal to stay at M💝ercedes beyond the expiration of his current contract at the end of this year.
The꧂ir preseason testing performance was patchy - the porpoising that blighted the early stages of last season was seemingly gone, but a memorable image lasts of a forlorn Russell stood staring at his broken-down 🉐W14.
Red Bull, ominously, set the pace and Mercedes fans are left hoping that To𒈔to Wolff’s team intentionally hid their true performance.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from🥃 American sports, to football, to F1.
