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Lewis Hamilton has not had the best of starts to the F1 2022 season. He's already close to 20 points behind the championship leader. The Mercedes at his disposal is not a match for the frontrunners. And, at least for now, the gap between Hamilton and the frontrunners only seems to be getting bigger.
Damon Hill, however, is still optimistic about the Mercedes driver's chances of fighting and even winning the title this season. When questioned on the prospects of Hamilton fighting and even winning the title, Hill felt he couldn't see why that can't be the case, especially with the season being so long.
The 1996 F1 world champion said:
“I don’t see why not. He’s a long shot. The betting odds are apparently quite long so it might be worth a tipple on Lewis [Hamilton]. As I’ve said before, this is going to be a long, old battle. We will not remember the first few races of this season by the time we get to halfway through. It’s going to be a slog - 23 grands prix.”
He further played out the scenario of Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell getting into points and making it a tough battle, saying:
“And if you’ve got a battle going on at the front and you haven’t got a dominant team then it’s unlikely they will get that far ahead. So it’s highly likely Mercedes could get in the mix, and don’t forget George Russell is in there as well, he’s doing a fine job, and may even take points off the other guys as well.”
Damon Hill says there is always a chance with Lewis Hamilton's team
Damon Hill also highlighted the importance of having a team like Mercedes that Lewis Hamilton has around him. The team has a proven record of producing the fastest machinery on the grid for close to a decade. Speaking about Mercedes, Hill said:
“There’s always a chance with a team like Mercedes. They’ve got something wrong, and the hope is if they find a fix for that they will get a big gain in performance. Another question is when you look at their car it does have a slightly different design philosophy aerodynamically on the bodywork at the back.”
He, however, expressed hope that Mercedes has not made a design blunder, saying:
“The hope is they haven’t made a mistake in a fundamental design area. The data says the car should be good [but] they just can’t tap into it because of this porpoising that’s been created by an aerodynamic instability that makes the car bounce and that is hampering their performance.”
Mercedes was close to half a second per lap slower than the frontrunners in the first two races and it will be interesting to see what it can do at the Australian GP.
