Lewis Hamilton to get his big F1 wish as David Coulthard weighs in on Mercedes woes

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Lewis Hamilton has been told Mercedes can win a Grand Prix before the end of the year, in a major boost to the Formula One icon and team-mate George Russell. David Coulthard believes there is ‘every likelihood’ that the Silver Arrows will have a race victory in 2022. 

Mercedes have struggled for performance this season, with Hamilton failing to win a race so far and sitting a huge 112 points behind world championship leader Max Verstappen. It would be the first time in his career that the 37-year-old endures a full campaign without winning a Grand Prix if the run continues. 

Sweeping regulation changes and porpoising issues plagued Mercedes’ first few months, although young Brit Russell managed to record some positive results. Vehicle enhancements saw both drivers’ performances improve in the few Grands Prix before the summer break. 

And former McLaren driver Coulthard believes there is every chance one of Hamilton or Russell can win a race this year. The Scot pointed at previous shock wins – such as Ocon in Hungary last year – as proof that Mercedes can be victorious. 

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“I think there’s every likelihood of them [Mercedes] winning a Grand Prix. Let’s remind ourselves in previous years, people like Alpine and McLaren have won in seasons that, you know they’ve not been even close prior to those one-off races,” Coulthard told Sporting News. 

‘So, I do think it’s feasible, if you look at George Russell’s pole in Budapest, had this race been a year ago with the different regulations there’s every likelihood he could have done an Ocon and got his elbows out and won the Grand Prix. 

“What has obviously changed this year is the new regulations that have been brought in to allow cars to run more closely and allow for better racing has gone out in the on-track races we’ve seen this year, so not great for George given he delivered a single lap that was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the Mercedes just isn’t as complete over a race distance at the moment.”

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Coulthard added that it was ‘inevitable’ for Mercedes to see a dip in performance after years of domination. Hamilton is still hunting a record eighth world championship, and the 51-year-old former driver believes they can still come back from their difficult period. 

“The dropback and the fallback was Mercedes, of course, which, given again, historical knowledge of sport generally, nobody continues a run of the likes we saw Mercedes deliver for such a long time. So, as uncomfortable as it is for them to not be delivering a world championship car in the first half of the season, it was almost inevitable it was coming at a certain point,” Coulthard concluded. 

“The real marker of the team is the comeback because, in success, everybody loves each other, everybody thinks we’re winning because we’re the best ever but the truth is it comes in waves and flows and the comeback is going to be interesting to watch.”

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