Again to successful methods in 2024 after 946 days with out gracing an F1 podium’s high step – Lewis Hamilton’s emotional Silverstone victory was the spotlight of his season, however he was glorious in qualifying and on the orthodox two-stop technique at Spa too.
Hamilton’s in-race tyre administration stays high class, as his tempo whereas rising in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi confirmed, plus how he held off Max Verstappen on extra fragile tyres late in that Silverstone win.
However his general qualifying towards George Russell and braking confidence struggles, plus errors similar to at Austin, imply he goes to Ferrari with peak efficiency inquiries to reply.
The place Hamilton nonetheless has a crucial F1 edge
“I really feel on race Sundays that it is nonetheless in me. I do know I nonetheless have the velocity and that offers me loads of hope for what’s to come back.”
Hamilton mentioned these phrases to the invited friends of Mercedes’ title sponsor, Petronas, simply days after he’d turned out for the Silver Arrows squad in an F1 race for the ultimate time.
That he was talking to them in Malaysia in any respect within the days after the Abu Dhabi marketing campaign finale was the rationale he couldn’t make an early debut with Ferrari within the season-ending tyre take a look at – Mercedes’ choice to carry him to the total size of his contract a lot about not handing a 2025 title rival any further edge.
Hamilton’s record-extending ninth British GP victory was a shining gentle in an in any other case disappointing marketing campaign
Picture by: Erik Junius
Crew insiders additionally defined this was why he didn’t get an enormous pre-race send-off in Abu Dhabi, the place it was enterprise as ordinary till the chequered flag. And, when it comes to one among Hamilton’s ongoing driving strengths, it actually was there. That is how the seven-time world champion remains to be in a position to get one of the best out of the complicated Pirelli rubber over race stints.
Again at Silverstone, he was in a position to make the gentle tyres final within the dry remaining stint and see off a rampaging Verstappen, when Lando Norris in a McLaren might have beforehand been set to win. This was Mercedes’ mid-season purple patch, the place the cooler situations at Silverstone gave the W15 a crucial edge. Even cooler temperatures in Las Vegas made it class-leading.
Hamilton’s remaining stint there – the place he was homing in on eventually-winning team-mate Russell at a fee of almost 0.3s a lap with a lot older tyres – confirmed once more how his in-race tyre remedy can present him with a crucial edge.
The issue was how usually this yr he was deploying this from weak positions after poor qualifying outcomes. Take Vegas – the place Hamilton’s pair of Q3 errors meant he began tenth, with Russell on pole. The Abu Dhabi qualifying Q1 exit wasn’t his fault, however once more he responded with a masterful race drive – gaining 12 locations on the contra-one-stopper.
Subsequent yr Hamilton heads to Ferrari, the place he might be paired with F1’s finest qualifier in Charles Leclerc. His in-race tyre administration prowess will once more be a key energy, however his struggles with braking confidence – so lengthy a profession energy – when pushing on the peaky softest compounds imply there are already fears he’ll be battling again simply as he usually did with Russell this yr.
Little doubt, he’ll be out to show such predictions mistaken.
Hamilton will be a part of Ferrari in 2025 after 12 seasons with Mercedes and the Scuderia is predicted to mount a title problem
Picture by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Photographs
On this article
Alex Kalinauckas
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Lewis Hamilton
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