Lewis Hamilton drops subtle hint on future Mercedes plans

Lewis Hamilton has suggested that he could stick around at Mercedes for ‘many more’ years after his 2022 season ended with a whimper in Abu Dhabi. The seven-time world champion was forced to retire from the race due to a hydraulics issue, which saw him slip down to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship.

Before lights out on Sunday, Hamilton may have clung onto faint hopes that his streak of winning a Grand Prix in every year of his career could be salvaged at the 11th hour. But it wasn’t to be as Max Verstappen won at a canter to notch his 15th win of the season for Red Bull. 

Things went from bad to worse for Hamilton, who was just about holding onto fourth late on under pressure from Carlos Sainz, as a hydraulics issue saw him called into the pits with just three laps remaining. The retirement saw him drop below Sainz in the Championship, and George Russell became just the third driver to beat Hamilton over the course of a year while on the same team. 

After the chequered flag, Hamilton gave some insight into an opening-lap collision with Sainz that slightly damaged his Mercedes, as well as a hint into his future plans by claiming that he aims for ‘many more’ championships with the Silver Arrows. 

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“I think the floor took a big hit and you lose a bit of performance,” the Brit told Sky Sports. “The balance was shifted forwards which is like you have loads of front wing. Ultimately we started with a car that we didn’t want and we finished that way too. We were stuck with it.

“We kept working away at improving it but the fundamentals have been there all the way through. It’s been more of a team building exercise this year and I’m proud of everyone. We’ll be back at the factory over the next couple of weeks. I hope the struggles this year really provide us with the strength to fight for many more championships moving forward.”

“It is how it is,” Perez told Sky Sports after finishing the year in third. “Sometimes it’s really close but at the end of the day, I gave it all. As a team we gave it all through the season and I’m sure we’ll come back stronger for next year.

“We had great moments, great battling. I struggled a bit with managing the tyres so hopefully that’s something we can improve on for next year.” Meanwhile, an exhausted Leclerc threw things forward to 2023 as he hopes Ferrari can close the gap on Red Bull. 

Mercedes will focus on a similar task during the off-season, having narrowly missed out on second place in the Constructors’ Championship to Ferrari.