During the first days of the Formula 1 preseason in 2022, Mercedes was a little more hidden than usual and, although they had already used a similar strategy in the past, everything seemed to indicate that this time something was not working as the team expected. .
The problems and doubts increased even more in the winter tests in Bahrain, when the star team surprised everyone with a radical design of the W13, a car that at first scared its rivals, but that soon generated more doubts than certainties.
Looking back to the Barcelona tests, Lewis Hamilton had this to say in reference to Mercedes ‘ problems: “My team doesn’t make mistakes.”
However, after the first four races of the season, where the British driver has only managed to add 28 points, for the 86 that Charles Leclerc, the current leader of the championship, has, Hamilton rectified and recognized his mistake.
“Can I be wrong or something, right? At the time I said: ‘We are world champions, we don’t make mistakes’. But being realistic: even with all the tools at our disposal, we really seemed to be wrong.”
“What can we do in a situation like this? Only one thing: join forces and work as hard as possible. And if someone stumbles, the rest must help him to move forward.”
“We are not exactly where we want to be, it is a fact. But we will continue to fight with all our might to see the light at the end of the tunnel at some point.”
Before the big regulatory change of 2022, Mercedes had been able to conquer each and every one of the constructors’ titles that had been disputed since the hybrid era was introduced in Formula 1 in 2014.
For his part, Lewis Hamilton won six titles during that period, all except for the defeat against his former teammate, Nico Rosberg, in 2016, and last season, where after more than 20 races at the limit, Max Verstappen managed to join the long list of world champion drivers in F1.
Taking these statistics into account and letting ourselves be carried away by the British driver’s statements, it seems that Mercedes entered into a dynamic in which there was not even the concept of being wrong, which would explain Hamilton ‘s statements at the Circuit de Barcelona.
However, the course of F1’s first races in 2022 has been a harsh reality check for the star structure, reminding them that in motorsport’s top flight no one is invincible.
