Lewis Hamilton has routinely played down his chance of challenging for the F1 title again next year.
Lewis Hamilton’s prospects of challenging Max Verstappen’s dominance of Formula One next season look slim from the outset and Express readers are on the same page. With a joint-record seven world championship titles to his name the British driver has no equal in terms of achievement amongst the current crop of F1 drivers, but he is currently going through something of a barren patch.
Lewis Hamilton won his first championship in 2008 with McLaren before moving to Mercedes where he began a period of dominance himself, winning the drivers’ championship in 2014, 2015, 2017 2018, 2019 and 2020.
But the emergence of Red Bull Racing and its quicker car has turned the tables on the celebrated Brit, who has been forced to look on as Verstappen clocked up three consecutive world titles of his own.
The Dutchman had more than a bit of good fortune in 2021 when he controversially pipped Hamilton to the title on the last lap of the season in Abu Dhabi, but the same cannot be said of the last two campaigns where the Red Bull of Verstappen has been the clear standout performer.
The switch in fortunes could not have been more dramatic. Hamilton has won a staggering 103 F1 Grand Prix during his career but his last victory was at Saudi Arabia on December 5, 2021.
Die-hard fans have remained hopeful that Hamilton can arrest the slide in 2024 and perhaps even challenge Verstappen for the world championship, but even the British favourite himself remains doubtful of being able to become competitive once the new season gets underway.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the Abu Dahbi Grand Prix in November, Hamilton said: “It’s not been a great year. There’s not a lot to take from the year in general. The fact that I survived it, probably that’s about it.”
When asked about whether Mercedes could make a serious challenge to Red Bull next season, he added: “At this moment I don’t really know. For Red Bull to win by 17 seconds [at the Abu Dahbi GP] in the end and they haven’t even developed their car since August is definitely a concern.
“But we’ve learned a lot about the car and it’s just down to the team now. They know what they need to do. Whether or not we will get there, we will see.”
Express readers appear to be broadly of the same opinion. When asked in a recent poll if Lewis Hamilton could win his eighth world championship in 2024, only 39% said yes with 61% feeling that it was beyond him.
However, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff remains positive and is itching to start closing the gap, even if the task ahead of him looks like an unenviable one.
Speaking at an end-of-season Q&A with fans, Wolff said: “There’s a team that is so successful and we have a big gap to close. At the same time, I believe we’ve taken some proactive steps to close that gap. Is it going to be good enough? I don’t know. But we’re going to see it in testing and then in the first race in Bahrain.
“I’m super excited. I’d like to start going now. It’s the stopwatch that’s going to tell us what job we’ve done.”
