Lewis Hamilton and George Russell offered Mexican GP hope by Sainz
Lewis Hamilton discusses his experience with race in Formula 1
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Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been offered hope of a positive Mexican Grand Prix result after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz predicted a six-way battle for the win. It has been a difficult 2022 season for the Silver Arrows who are yet to win a race this year, a stark contrast to their dominance over the last eight seasons.
The tantalising prospect of a first race win of the campaign also came agonisingly close for seven-time champion Hamilton at last weekend’s US Grand Prix in Austin. After a less than adequate pit stop for Max Verstappen saw the Brit thrust into the lead of the grand prix it seemed he might be able to maintain his record of winning at least one race in every F1 season he has participated in.
But that hope of a US victory was dashed as two-time world champion Verstappen roared back to pass Hamilton with just a handful of laps remaining. The Red Bull driver went on to seal the win, securing Red Bull’s Constructors Championship title for 2022 in the process.
But Hamilton might be in with another shot of victory in Mexico this weekend with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz predicting a six-way battle for the win, between Red Bull, Mercedes and of course Ferrari’s pair of drivers. The Spaniard also had a gutting outing in the US as he qualified on pole position only to be taken out on the first corner thanks to a mistake from Russell.
“I think there’s a strong chance that it will be a six-way driver battle for the win,” Sainz told Formula 1 assessing the Mexican Grand Prix. “I think it could be an interesting one.
“We might be up for one of the most competitive weekends unless one of the teams suddenly adapts to this altitude a lot better than another.”
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The unique characteristics of the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez are not lost on any of the Formula 1 drivers and Hamilton has similarly expressed his hope that Mercedes could be competitive at the race.
“There’s lots of positives to take from last weekend coming in here, it’s high altitude, which forces everyone to be on maximum downforce, even the Red Bulls,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I don’t know whether they’re always their strongest with their max wing – we will see this weekend.
“They were very strong here last year so I anticipate they’ll be very strong this weekend. But I hope we’re in the mix again because it was really fun last week.”
The Brit also summed up just how much a victory would mean to his team, despite their W13 car not being up to the job compared to the previous vehicles they have had fighting for championships.
“It would be such a blessing if we did get a win,” he continued. “The emotions that would come out would be unmeasurable but if it doesn’t come it’s ok.
“We’ll just take that energy that we’re feeling that there is hope there. There is a huge amount of focus, we know where the car is not great and we know where we need to put it to make it better.”
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