Sebastian Vettel has questioned how excited Lewis Hamilton will really be to find himself fighting for low-scoring points finishes in 2022. Vettel and Hamilton share 11 of the last 13 Drivers' Championships in Formula 1, as was their dominance in the sport, but now both find themselves fighting amongst the midfield, with Mercedes and Aston Martin underperforming. Hamilton is hoping that his team will bring their W13 car to the level of Red Bull and Ferrari in time for next month's British Grand Prix, allowing him to resume his fight for race wins. But until then, Vettel thinks that F1 fans should not expect to see Hamilton pushing to the limit for what is, by his standards, an unmemorable result. "When you get to know the sport in the way I have done, and Lewis has done, winning and being at the top is what you strive for,” Vettel said, speaking to PA about Hamilton. "Does it excite you to finish eighth, or 12th or 13th? No, it doesn't, when you know you have been first so many times – and in Lewis' case more than any other guy."
Vettel confident fire will reignite within Hamilton
After seven rounds of the new season – and with plenty of misfortune having come his way – Hamilton is 34 points behind the consistent Russell, who is yet to finish outside the top five. The 37-year-old has not been beaten by a teammate since 2016, when Nico Rosberg got the better of him to snatch the title after a dramatic season finale in Abu Dhabi. But Vettel predicts that the fire will reignite within Hamilton as soon as Mercedes present him with a car capable of fighting with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. "George comes in – he spent three years at Williams suffering to death at the rear of the field, scoring the odd point – and then suddenly he is eighth or 12th and life for him is amazing," continued Vettel. "Everybody is different, but you need to be fair from the outside and say, look, is Lewis naturally going to be as fired up about finishing eighth as George probably is? No, and I would be surprised if he was."
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