A negative record for Hamilton? Mercedes has to win this year or it will be a reality. Red Bull is unbeatable, admits

There are still six races left in this year’s Formula 1 season, and there is one big question circulating not only in the paddock. Can anyone else even beat Red Bull and Max Verstappen in 2022. In fact, Lewis Hamilton weighed in on the subject after the Italian Grand Prix, calling the Austrian stable unbeatable.

On Sunday 11 September, Formula 1 had its 16th race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix. It was eventually dominated by Verstappen in the Red Bull, with the reigning champion claiming his fifth win in a row and eleventh overall this year.

This means he has a significant lead at the top of the drivers’ championship over second-placed Charles Leclerc. Verstappen currently has a whopping 335 points to his name, while the Monegasque driver in the service of Ferrari has only 219.

He is now 116 points behind the Red Bull driver. There can be no question of any fight for the title, Verstappen has the defence firmly in his hands.

The Austrian team also holds the first place in the Constructors’ Cup, when Verstappen and Sergio Pérez together scored 545 points. However, an interesting battle is still to be fought for second place, which is currently held by Ferrari with 406 points. Third-placed Mercedes has picked up 371 points so far.

The dominance of Red Bull and Verstappen was also confirmed by Hamilton after the Italian Grand Prix. He declared that this team is currently unbeatable. He also admitted that Mercedes will not come up with any upgrades that will allow them to beat Red Bull before the end of the season.

In fact, the German team is currently focusing on the development of the monopost for next season, in which Mercedes wants to be competitive again. However, the team is running out of chances to win and if the Silver Arrows do indeed fail to win this year, it will be the first season ever that Hamilton fails to win at least once.

It should be noted, the seven-time world champion has scored six podiums this year, with his teammate George Russell scoring another seven. As for the young talented Brit, it is also worth noting that apart from one retirement at Silverstone this year, he has never finished worse than fifth.

Hamilton’s statement

“We have to be realistic, Red Bull is almost unbeatable. We haven’t caught them, we don’t have any improvements that would allow us to overtake them. It’s not impossible (to beat Red Bull – ed.), we almost did it in Budapest. But Max drives alone at the front, so you can’t tell their real pace,” Hamilton said after the Italian GP, as quoted by Motorsport.

Toto Wolff also had his say…

“I think it was quite encouraging to see that George was able to stay in front at the start of the race. It’s even more frustrating that we don’t have a car to fight for the win with. We’re quite far away from that, that’s the reality,” said the Mercedes boss.

“The overall result? In absolute terms, it was the best we could achieve, but relatively still not good enough,” he added.

Wolff then added that both Mercedes drivers also drove a great race later in the Italian Grand Prix, and he said Hamilton would have managed to finish fifth without the safety car coming out. And he also still believes they can win this year.

“I think it would be amazing if we could win the race on merit, without any penalties on the grid. If you ask me after Spa, I would say it’s impossible. And after Zandvoort we almost won one (race).

So I think that has to be our goal. We don’t want to end the season without winning a race, even though we’re already focusing on the 2023 season. In this difficult season, it would be quite nice for all our people. I think the configuration of the circuit (Singapore) should suit us, but we remain cautious with our forecasts,” he concluded.

F1, Motorsport