Hamilton looked like a shell of his former self as he spent most of the Emilia Romagna GP stuck behind Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri.
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To say Lewis Hamilton had a poor weekend would be an understatement. Out in Q2, P14 in the Sprint, and P13 in the race. Not seven-time world champion numbers for sure. The Brit is in seventh place in the drivers’ standings with just 28 points in four races. Hamilton looked like a shell of his former self as he spent most of the Emilia Romagna GP stuck behind Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri. His teammate, George Russell, surged through the grid to achieve P4. However, Hamilton never looked like making a pass throughout. The Brit was noticeably dejected after the race, acknowledging that he was out of the 2022 world title picture.
“I’m out of the championship, for sure,” said the Mercedes driver. “There is no question about that. But I’ll still keep working as hard as I can, to try and pull it back together somehow.”
Asked if he should have pitted earlier for dry weather tyres, the Brit said: “I really don’t know to be honest. I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to be honest. A weekend to forget for sure.”
“At least George got some points for the team today. My apologies to everyone that I wasn’t able to do the same. Everyone’s just head down trying their best, there’s no one that’s giving up, everyone is trying to move forward as fast as they can. [I was] just bit of a sitting duck today,” the 37-year-old added.
As Ferrari failed to deliver on home soil, Max Verstappen won a dramatic wet-dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, with Charles Leclerc spinning late on to finish sixth after Carlos Sainz retired. The Dutchman won the Sprint on Saturday and led off the line on Sunday, with teammate Perez joining him at the front – while Leclerc dropped to fourth for a brief moment. On the first lap, the Safety Car was deployed after Daniel Ricciardo tipped Carlos Sainz into the gravel and forced him out of the race for the second consecutive Grand Prix.
On Lap 19, as the track dried, drivers began to switch from inters to mediums, with Perez coming in first, followed by Verstappen and Leclerc one lap later. The Monegasque started just ahead of Perez, but with warmer tyres, Perez skated past for P2 and then held off the Ferrari. The Red Bulls followed Leclerc’s late gamble to pit for softs from P3 and retain the lead, but Perez spun and hit the wall at Variante Alta on Lap 54, again in pursuit of the championship leader. He dropped to ninth after pitting for a new nose and softs, and only made it to P6 at the finish.
