Lewis Hamilton appears to have already conceded defeat in his bid to win an eighth F1 World Championship title after just one race. After a disappointing 2022 season, which saw him finish sixth after failing to win a single Grand Prix, Hamilton believes he will never again be able to challenge for the title this year.
The Brit finished fifth in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, while leading rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull 1-2 to give his title defense a perfect start.
Hamilton admitted he knew Mercedes were in for a difficult year the first time he saw their new car, and while he hopes they can “close the gap” sometime this season, he admits it’s “maybe it’s too late” in terms of The struggle for championship.
“I’m going to win again,” Hamilton said ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “It will take some time. [We knew] We probably wouldn’t hit the ground straight up front, but we thought it had to be there or close, so it was a bit of a shock when that wasn’t the case.
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“I knew we weren’t in the right place when we first saw the car, it looked so different from those of our competitors. It’s always nerve-wracking in that moment.
“The proof is in the pudding, we’ve seen where the performance is and how people extract the performance and now we have to start making some bold decisions, some big moves in order to close the gap to these guys.” [Red Bull] Otherwise, they will probably run away with it this year unless Ferrari stops them.
“We’ll wait and see. Hopefully sometime during the year we can bridge the gap but at this point it might be too late in terms of fighting for a championship but we can still turn some heads hopefully.”
Hamilton has also shut down some suggestions he might leave Mercedes as a result of their recent struggles to race with Red Bull, insisting he has “100 per cent confidence” in his team. “Of course, there are times when you don’t get along with some members of the team, but what’s important is that we keep communicating, we keep coming together,” he added.
“I still believe in this team 100 percent. It’s my family and I’ve been here for a long time, so I don’t plan on going anywhere else. We all need a kick, and we all need to push on.”
