Hamilton targets future on return to scene of bitter ‘injustice’
ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton returns to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this week 11 months on from one of the most rancorous days in Formula One history insisting he has put the past behind him.
His bid for an unprecedented eighth drivers’ world title at the Yas Marina circuit last December was thwarted by a combination of incorrect decisions by race officials, wretched bad luck and the opportunism of Max Verstappen.
As a result, while his Mercedes team triumphed in the constructors’ title race for an eighth consecutive season, he was left to digest the outcome of a sporting injustice which has reverberated ever since.
But Hamilton, who will be 38 in January, and whose act of congratulating his Dutch rival in the immediate aftermath of that bitter defeat concealed a profound disappointment, has remained stoical.
As Red Bull and Verstappen romped to glory in both the teams’ and drivers’ championships this year, while Mercedes grappled to understand and develop a stubbornly temperamental car, he became entirely a team man.
His third consecutive second-placed finish as teammate George Russell claimed his maiden Grand Prix victory in Brazil last Sunday was a reward of emotional significance just as, ironically, Red Bull’s unity was threatened by internal strife.
“I am very much here in the present,” he said, ahead of this weekend’s season finale. “I am not arriving here thinking of the past at all, not one bit. I am focused. I’m not sure if our car will work well here this weekend, but if there is a chance, we’ll go for it.”
Sunday’s race will not have the high stakes of 2021, but for Hamilton it represents a last chance to keep alive his record of winning at least once in every season of his record-breaking F1 career.
He has a record total of 103 wins to his name, including five at the Yas Marina track where Verstappen has won the last two contests, but such statistics are not his or Mercedes’ priority.
Verstappen, meanwhile, will seek a record-extending 15th win in a single season.
On a weekend of several decisive showdowns, two-time champion Fernando Alonso will bid to sign off with a flourish for Alpine, who hope to finish fourth in the constructors’, before he moves to Aston Martin.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, 35, will also say farewell, not only to Aston Martin, but to F1 and back at the circuit where he won his first title in 2010.
SCHUMACHER REPLACED
Nico Hulkenberg will replace fellow German Mick Schumacher at Haas in 2023, the US team announced yesterday.
“Hulkenberg [35], a Formula 1 veteran with 181 career starts and a 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans race winner with Porsche, makes his full-time return to the sport next year,” Haas wrote in a statement released yesterday.
Hulkenberg will partner 30-year-old Dane Kevin Magnussen.
The move completes the grid for next season’s F1 season, provided that American Logan Sargeant, who is expected to join Williams, obtains the Super Licence needed to drive in F1.
Mick Schumacher, son of the legendary Michael Schumacher, lost his seat at Haas after two years in the premier class marked by poor results and too many accidents.
The 23-year-old German is 16th in the driver standings with 12 points. Magnussen is 13th on 25 points.