Lewis Hamilton claim shot down as Mercedes star told ‘compromises don’t work in F1’ | F1 | Sport
Former F1 driver Jean Alesi has dismissed Lewis Hamilton’s claims that Mercedes can turn their season around and beat both Red Bull and Ferrari to claim a Grand Prix win before the 2022 season is out. Following an upturn in the Silver Arrows’ form in recent races, the seven-time world champion declared he “truly believes” his team can win this campaign, however Alesi has now objected that “compromises don’t work in F1”.
Following years of domination which has included eight successive World Constructors’ Championship titles, Mercedes have endured a desperate season having been significantly affected by porpoising in F1’s new ground-effect era. However, despite a wretched run of results during the early part of the season, updates to the team’s W13 car have seen improved performances on the track in recent races.
Hamilton and Russell secured back-to-back double podiums in France and Hungary in their last two outings before the season’s summer break, with the latter also claiming pole last time out in Budapest. On the back of such improvements, Hamilton’s previous prediction that Mercedes can win a race this season appears increasingly likely to come to fruition, but it seems not everyone is as optimistic.
Former Ferrari, Benetton and Sauber driver Alesi, who amassed over 200 Grand Prix appearances during his career, rejected the Brit’s claim, insisting while upgrades can help a car, they “won’t fix it”. The Frenchman told GiveMeSport: “By experience, when a car is born with problems, you’re not able to fix it.
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Prior to Mercedes’ double podium success in France and Hungary, Hamilton claimed third in three successive races, in Canada, at Silverstone and in Austria. Speaking ahead of the third of those three events, the 37-year-old revealed his positivity regarding the remainder of the season. He said: “With a bit more hard work, hopefully we can get closer to having a chance of winning. I truly believe we can get a race win this year.
“There was a long way back. Earlier this year I definitely wasn’t sure we would ever get a win in this car, but that was not the way we like to think. It felt there’s a long way to catch everyone up knowing the progress everyone makes.”
