Lewis Hamilton has summitted the F1 world a record-equalling seven times, matched only by Michael Schumacher, but David Coulthard is not convinced he’ll be able to do it again
David Coulthard has questioned whether Lewis Hamilton is capable of adding to his seven Formula 1 world titles.
The Brit was cruelly denied an eighth in 2021 as Max Verstappen snatched the crown from him in controversial circumstances. And the Dutch king has reigned supreme since, with Mercedes nowhere near Red Bull’s level.
Although he has committed to playing for his team for at least two more seasons, Hamilton, who turns 39 next month, is nearing the end of his incredible career. But even if Mercedes can give him a vehicle that can contend for the championship, Coulthard isn’t sure his fellow British driver still has what it takes to unseat Verstappen.
The Scot remarked, “This is not Lewis at his best.” “Lewis has been underperforming for the past two years, which is incredibly frustrating. It will be fascinating to watch if he can recapture the former Lewis magic once he obtains a winning vehicle.”
This season, Hamilton has managed to deliver some impressive results and placed third in the drivers’ standings. However, those victories were far too infrequent, and he hasn’t won a race in the last two years.
In the final three races of the season, he finished eighth, seventh, and ninth, indicating a particularly poor campaign finale. Mercedes only managed to secure 14 points from that run, which included a Sprint weekend with even more incentives, in their ultimately successful pursuit of second place in the constructors’ championship.
That followed consecutive second-place finishes in Austin and Mexico, the latter of which he was later disqualified from. Mark Webber, a Channel 4 pundit who works alongside Coulthard, has also been perplexed by the Mercedes cars’ inconsistent performance.
“Isn’t the car mysterious?” said the former Red Bull athlete. Like nowhere, like Brazil. Mexico, Austin: Lewis obviously won that race there because the car was technically a little low there, but in the end, Hamilton was burning up the track. This device essentially turns on and off, blows hot or cold air, and moves the drivers up and down.
They are extremely small nip and tuck, and when you’re nip and tuck, you can really grow and begin to feed off one another. However, it’s actually difficult to pull all the corners together on a weekend when there’s a gulf. Thus, they’ll want to dispose of that item in the trash.”
Toto Wolff has already stated unequivocally that his group is acting in this manner. “Almost all of the components are being changed literally because I think that’s the only way we have a chance,” the Austrian said, adding a disclaimer that said, “We could be wrong as well.” Therefore, anything is possible, including not achieving our goals, catching up, taking a significant step, and competing at the top.”
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