After securing his win in Barcelona, question arises whether Lewis Hamilton can compete for the next F1 Drivers’ Championship.
Lewis finished and secured his first victory with Ferrari at the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya, with a 20-second gap between him and the second-placed George Russel from Mercedes.
When given the right circumstances and car, Hamilton’s talent shines through and it proves he can be one of the elite drivers, regardless of which circuit he is racing in. Hamilton is now 41 points behind from being the new world championship leader.
Kimi Antonelli’s retirement from the race and Mercedes being concerned with reliability issues, plus Hamilton’s strong performance, all leads to the possibility of him becoming the new championship leader.
However, Hamilton isn’t alone in this competition. Ferrari’s three-pit stop strategy placed him ahead of Mercedes.
Will Ferrari keep up the pace and performance?
“Very, very tricky weekend,” said Hamilton after his qualifying session, unexpecting to achieve such pace. Whereas his teammate, Charles Leclerc, who has been the face of Ferrari for 7 years, struggled to not only complete his 3rd qualifying session, but also retired from the race.
Is Leclerc unable to keep up with the Ferrari’s strategy? Has Ferrari shifted their focus to Hamilton? Or is it that Hamilton is now able to understand new changes? these are the questions many car racing fans are asking online.
In the future, there will be also technological regulations to take into account, especially in the case of Formula One.
A "development mechanism" intended to promote close rivalry among manufacturers is the new ADUO (additional development and upgrade opportunities) scheme. This can heavily impact the drivers’ performance, regardless of their personal skill level.
In two weeks, Mercedes will try to reestablish their dominance at the Red Bull Ring, but the weekend demonstrated that nothing can be taken for granted.