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AUSTIN, TX – Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 is pushed onto the grid before the United States Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, United States. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
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AUSTIN, TX – Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 is pushed onto the grid before the United States Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, United States. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
After tearing through the grid in this turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes, for the first time, look vulnerable. Their car is riddled with issues; it neither showed great speed, reliability nor driveability at the pre-season testing in Bahrain. The crown of Lewis Hamilton is under a genuine threat.
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Mercedes, throughout the past few years, have been famed for clocking in more laps than anyone. And yet this around, they were the worst team in this department.
Naturally, it concerns Lewis Hamilton. Even though he has never been a fan of testing, he wouldn’t now mind having a few extra days in the W12. He also knows that they have their task cut out.
“We’ve got lots of work to do, it’s going to be tough.”
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SUZUKA, JAPAN – Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP prepares to drive on the grid before the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
This brings back memories of when they were convincingly beaten by Ferrari at the test events in 2019. However, they came back strong and won the first eight races of the season. Hence, Lewis feels that they are capable of overcoming this obstacle as well.
“It does appear we are perhaps not quick enough at the moment, but I have every faith in the team. We love challenges and this definitely is a challenge for us with the [rule] changes,” said Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton on his ‘rare’ spins in Bahrain
There isn’t as smooth a driver as Hamilton on the grid. He rarely wobbles or crashes into the barriers. Although, he had a slightly nervous outing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
On the entry to corner 13, he spun out his W12 into the gravel. He couldn’t get out, and that brought out the red flags. The Briton attributes it to the poor balance and the nervous rear of his car –
“A couple of spins which are rare for me, but generally have been unhappy with the balance of the car and struggled with it. But nonetheless, the car is still in one piece and we still got through the programme.”
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Formula One F1 – Pre-Season Testing – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – March 12, 2021, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action during testing REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
At the moment, Red Bull look like they are in the pole position to end Mercedes’ dominance. We can’t wait for the season to begin and see who has their noses ahead.
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