Hamilton and his team are living in unknown territory at the start of the season, after eight years of absolute dominance and in which only in 2021, when Red Bull and Max Verstappen took a step forward, did they suffer in some races in which they did not they had the fastest car.
The aggressive W13 at the moment does not shine, and not only does Red Bull and Ferrari look far away, but it is also playing for positions in the middle of the grid with Haas, Alpine and Alfa Romeo.
Hamilton’s race in Saudi Arabia began to unravel after crashing out of Q1 on Saturday, seeing him relegated to 16th position (later 15th when Mick Schumacher was unable to race). He opted for a strategy of going out hard and lengthening his first stint a lot which, together with a decent pace, allowed him to come back.
In addition, the double abandonment of Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo was going to allow him to finally make his stop and round off the strategy, but the seven-time champion got confused and did not enter the pits when his team asked him to. And when he wanted to do it, one lap later, the pitlane was already closed because the McLaren and then the Alpine had been stopped there.
Lewis Hamilton fell out of the top 10, but taking advantage of other people’s misfortunes and avoiding trouble, he managed to close the points zone, in tenth place. That is where he left one of the anecdotes of the Saudi Arabian GP, since after crossing the finish line and being informed by his track engineer, the famous Peter Bonnington , of his position, he asked if there was a reward.
Engineer: “Okay Lewis, it’s P10. Sorry about that. Shitty result considering all the hard work.”
-Hamilton: “Is there even a point for that position?”.
That question quickly went viral and fans began to question whether it was a real question or just some sarcasm or humor. The truth is that Hamilton is not very used to occupying those places, and after signing his worst start in many years (despite the podium in Bahrain), it would not be surprising if the unknown situation in which he finds himself makes him forget the scoring system .
The truth is that in 290 races in Formula 1, Hamilton, who is the sixth driver with the most grand prizes in history, had only been tenth twice, in France 2008 and in Korea 2012 , and in the first of them only the top eight.
The situation was partly reminiscent of the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP, on the same Jeddah Corniche circuit. There, three months ago, during a red flag and seeing that his rival (a Verstappen who had not yet stopped) was going to overtake him with a ‘free stop’, he asked on the radio if the Dutchman would be allowed to change tires while the race was stopped. A rule known to almost everyone and it is hard to believe that a pilot is not aware of it.
Be that as it may, in Mercedes they seek to return to the front zone as soon as possible, where they are more comfortable and there are no ‘unforeseen’ to calculate how many points are added in the last bonus positions.
And, despite everything, its two drivers are among the top five in the drivers’ championship and Mercedes, second in the constructors’ championship.
