F1 News: Schumacher Slams Lewis Hamilton – “Lewis Hamilton Is The Big Loser Of The Season”
Lewis Hamilton has been heavily criticised by ex-German racing driver Ralf Schumacher as he calls the “big loser” of this 2022 F1 season.
In a column for Sky Germany, Schumacher looked back at Hamilton’s success over the past 8 seasons, and is now questioning where that success came from. 6 world titles came from his seven years at Mercedes, and with one under McLaren, this puts him up with Michael Schumacher as one of the greatest drivers of the sport. But Ralph isn’t completely sure this is correct after he’s now struggling to outcompete his new Mercedes teammate George Russell.
He wrote the following:
“Lewis Hamilton is the big loser of the season so far. George Russell was new to the team at the start of the season and is usually ahead of the runner-up world champion and is also stronger in qualifying. The “‘greatest driver of all time;, as Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff always calls it, is ironed out by a newcomer in a way that is already worrying. I’m amazed, because there are only two options: Either is Russell the new high-flyer, or Hamilton had such a strong car in recent years that has made up for a lot.”
Following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was in a bad way with pain up his back from the massive amount of porpoising the W13 is experiencing. Before the race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff wondered if Hamilton would even be able to finish the race, but he did in P4, one place behind Russell who has now garnered his second podium position with the team.
Schumacher questioned Hamilton’s reaction to the car’s porpoising.
“Russell was in the same car and George looked rather fresh to me after the race,” Schumacher wrote. “Lewis should first see that he is faster than his team-mate. I’m sorry for Lewis that he has a backache but other teams are tackling the problem as well.”
He admits that Hamilton is feeling more pain due to a different seating position compared to Russell, but this is still quite a blatant attack on the driver’s performance this season. Many have pointed out the difference between Hamilton and Russell this year, and with the former 37 points behind Russell, this won’t die down anytime soon.
