After almost securing the victory at Zandvoort, the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is now more than optimistic for his upcoming race at Monza. The seven-time world champion has emphasized that he can now see himself fighting for a win this season after securing fourth at the Dutch GP. The statement came out after he bombarded his team with some intense cuss words because of an unexpected strategy call by his team. Although, the Briton later apologized for his outburst and stated that he didn’t even remember what he said at that point.
Meanwhile, the Dutch GP was the first time where Mercedes’ strategy and their car’s race both worked simultaneously. As a result, George Russell clinched second podium position, while Hamilton secured fourth. And that is why the Silver Arrows driver feels like he can now achieve the top position in the upcoming race at the Italian GP. Although, when talking about technical situations, the data shows otherwise.
Will Lewis Hamilton Win His First Race Of the 2022 Season At Monza?
Keeping in mind the technical aspects at Monza, the situation is not looking much bright for Lewis Hamilton as well as for Mercedes. Monza is a very low downforce race track. Moreover, the Silver Arrows has not done much well at low-downforce circuits this year. Their one of the biggest issues, other than porpoising, is their underfloor. Mercedes have utterly strumbled to get the detail down the side of it and run low to the ground.
Moreover, the rear wings of their car have a very flat and straight leading edge at high downforce tracks. So, that will create more rear wing downforce. However, it will produce less downforce as compared to that of Red Bull and Ferrari. This is because they have V-shaped & U-shaped wings. Apparently, the German car this year is a little draggy on the straight tracks. So, it will be quite difficult to be at top speed on a race track which is named the Temple of Speed itself.
Also, at Monza, the outfits run specific low-downforce and drag aero packages. This translates that overall higher downforce will arrive from the underfloor. And that is the main problem for the Mercedes team. So, the silver Arrows might have to struggle a bit in qualifying at the Italian GP.
Hamilton Optimistic For The Italian GP
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton made a quite positive statement after having a good and stable run at Zandvoort. As the former world champion stated, “If the car feels like this at the other races we’re going to be fighting for a win and that’s amazing.” He also revealed that the W13 was running ay better than it had been since the start of the 2022 season. Lewis even felt that they could fight for a win and potentially a one-two.
Although the scenario changed when Lewis Hamilton was chased down by his teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from second to fourth.