Il 2023 di Lewis Hamilton It's been a two-sided year. On the one hand the discovery podium in the world championship, recovering from sixth place in 2022 (worst career finish) with a solid third (an unprecedented result in his career). On the other hand, however, for the second season in a row the long-awaited victory number 104 was missing, even if one arrived pole position.
The British driver, however, can say he is satisfied. After a season, that of 2022, spent experimenting with set-ups during the first races while George Russell always finished in the top 5, this year the seven-time world champion took the luxury of finishing well five positions higher than his teammate, although the gap was only 59 points.
Hamilton's 2023: ups and downs, but a year as a champion
Despite the missed appointment with victory, Lewis Hamilton he finished second in three races (Australia, Spain and Mexico), which would have been four without Austin's disqualification, which was not attributable to the driver. Before retiring at the start in Qatar, the only real big mistake of the season, the British champion had only missed the top 6 once, in Austria.
Despite a very moody car, the best behind Red Bull, now a colorless mid-pack contender, the steadiness of Hamilton allowed him to fight until the penultimate race with Sergio Perez for the title of vice world champion. Third place shouldn't be a shame: to say that Perez had a superior car is an understatement. Hamilton finished as “best of the rest“, ahead of all the other drivers who, in the various races of 2023, have alternated as Verstappen's main antagonists. And he should be proud of this.
Towards 2024 and beyond: the search for the eighth
Hamilton and Mercedes they will continue together at least until 2025, when the rider from Stevenage will have passed the threshold of 40 years, hoping to have it in his hands again a car that allows him to fight for his eighth world championship.
In this regard, Hamilton emphasized i progress that he saw during the 2023, while hoping for a better machine in the future. “We didn't think it was possible to score a pole when I drove the car for the first time in February – we read on the page Autosport Top 50 of 2023 dedicated to number 44 – and Austin's updates brought us close to victory.".
“Seeing that we have slowly transformed the car into a more competitive car was one of the best moments of the season. But it remains fundamentally a non-winning car. The ideal would be to arrive in February and not see a repeat of last year.".
