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Lewis Hamilton will be motivated to get the better of his new Mercedes teammate George Russell, according to former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg.
The seven-time world champion had a race weekend to forget in Italy. After only managing to scrape into the second qualifying session for the Sprint on Friday, Hamilton dropped a place during the 100 km race on Saturday.
Hamilton's struggles continued during Sunday as well. After an abject P13 result, the Briton admitted he was not going to be in the running for the championship, saying:
“A weekend to forget, that’s for sure. I’m out of it (2022 world championship), for sure. There’s no question about that, but I’ll still keep working as hard as I can to try and somehow pull it back together somehow.”
Nico Rosberg, one of Lewis Hamilton's former teammates and most formidable foes in years past, weighed in on the 37-year-old's tough start to 2022. During a discussion on Sky Sports, the German said:
“That was tough to see Lewis [Hamilton] in that state, he’s really down which is understandable. It is a long season but they’re nowhere with that car; they’re not even going to be able to fight for race wins any time soon. So, it’s difficult for Lewis to keep his motivation up.”
The 2016 F1 world champion went on to add, saying:
“I think he’ll manage because he really is a fighter and remember there’s always that thing that he still wants to beat his teammate. That’s really, really important to him. With George [Russell] performing so well, that could be the biggest motivator for Lewis to just keep going and keep fighting.”
Since the 2022 season opener in Bahrain, Russell has outshone his more illustrious teammate in the three races that have followed. Russell also holds a 21-point lead over Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship standings.
"It's going to be painful" - Nico Rosberg predicts pain for Lewis Hamilton after being lapped by Max Verstappen during 2022 F1 Imola GP
Nico Rosberg feels it must have been painful for Lewis Hamilton to get lapped by Max Verstappen during the 2022 F1 Imola GP.
The two 2021 title protagonists have not had the chance to rekindle their rivalry this year. While Verstappen has been vying for supremacy at the top of the grid, Hamilton has been battling to escape mediocrity in the midfield with Mercedes.
An already disappointing race weekend was made even worse for the Briton when he was blue flagged to let Verstappen through. Rosberg ensured to comment on it during the broadcast of the race, saying:
“Just when you thought that it couldn’t get worse than it is for Lewis, he’s got his arch-rival coming up behind him in Verstappen and he’s going to lap him. It’s going to be painful. I think for Max, he might have a little smile in his helmet when he goes by...”
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will have the rest of the month to regroup before trying to get their affairs in order in time for the inaugural F1 Miami GP next.
