"A compromise in Formula 1 doesn't work"- Former F1 driver doesn't see Mercedes 'winning Grand Prix' in 2022 season

Former F1 driver Jean Alesi does not think Mercedes can win a race this season. Speaking to Give Me Sport, Alesi talked about how a car that is built with certain issues from the beginning can only run with compromises and a compromised car does not win races. He said,

"By experience, when a car is born with problems, you're not able to fix it. You can make a compromise, but a compromise in Formula 1 doesn't work, you know. I don't really believe they are able to be a winning team, winning Grands Prix, before the end of the championship under normal circumstances."

Alesi admitted he was shocked to see the level of performance Mercedes had at the start of the season. The team was coming off 8 consecutive titles and was expected to have a strong car. As it turned out, the car was just not good enough to fight for the title. Alesi said,

"It's easy for me to say, but everybody was shocked. When they presented the car in Bahrain, everybody said, 'Oh my God, they have made something very special and they're going to be untouchable'. But lap after lap, they found out the car was nowhere."

The former F1 race winner also admitted it was embarrassing at times to see Lewis Hamilton struggle in the Mercedes earlier in the season. He did however give props to both the drivers for the way they have made a comeback with multiple podium positions. He said,

"To see Lewis driving a car like that was sometimes embarrassing, because Lewis is a seven-time World Champion. But to see his capacity to still improve the car, that was impressive. In Hungary, it was fantastic to see George on pole position and Lewis fighting towards the front."

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton welcomes the adversity faced by the team early in the season

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was hoping to script a comeback after losing the championship last season. Looking at the car and its competitiveness, all of those plans were out of the window early in the season.

Hamilton did reveal that things have not been perfect this season but at the same time, he felt that these adversities are only going to make Mercedes stronger for the future. He said:

"I think it's definitely not been perfect. I've definitely not been perfect in the background. I definitely would say it's been a struggle, particularly off the end of last year, so it's been a real kind of odd kind of growth process. I've tried a lot of things with the car and experiments, and it's often caught us out. I've struggled with feeling comfortable in the car this year."

He further touched on the improvements that are visible now and said,

"To finally be in a place where that's not the case... I'm in a more kind of leading position with the car now, rather than it leading me. It's been good. I think also there's people in our team that have been here for many, many years, even before our success, and then there's people that are new to the team, who have been here only with the wins, so this is a new experience for them also."

Finally, Hamilton did admit that these failures are what is going to make the team stronger in the future. He said,

"I think for anybody, it's a good experience to have. The adversity only makes you stronger. It's the failures, I think, that truly make us strong."

Mercedes has been on an impressive run with 6 consecutive podium finishes, with Lewis Hamilton finishing P2 in the last two races. It will be interesting to see if the team can win a race this season.