3 reasons why Lewis Hamilton will NOT win the 2023 F1 title 

Lewis Hamilton did not have a great 2022 F1 season. The driver didn't have a car capable of fighting for the title. He did not win a race or secure a pole position even once and to make things worse, was outscored by George Russell. In all of this, arguably the biggest dampener would have been watching Max Verstappen dominate like Lewis himself did in the past.

Heading into the 2023 F1 Lewis Hamilton is still in talks with Mercedes over his contract extension. It has still not been finalized! More importantly, this is a season where Lewis will be hoping to fight back and make history. The Mercedes driver has won the championship seven times. The only driver to match him is Michael Schumacher.

If Lewis ends up doing it for the 8th time then the debate over who is the greatest F1 driver will be over. Having said that, how likely is another championship triumph for Lewis Hamilton? There is a school of thought that thinks it is unlikely! Let's take a look at why that is the case.

#1 The Red Bull-Max Verstappen combo is just better!

Let's be fair, the level at which the Red Bull-Max Verstappen is operating has not been seen before. It's a combination of the best driver on the grid who hardly has an off-weekend in terms of performance and a team that is almost always on top of its game. In terms of driving, the last two seasons clearly indicate that Max Verstappen has separated himself from the rest of the field, including Lewis Hamilton.

Despite winning the 2021 F1 title in contentious circumstances, there wasn't much debate over who was the better of the two drivers. To add to this, Red Bull's operations are clearly a step ahead of anything that Mercedes has shown recently. The race in Mexico last season could have been a Mercedes/Lewis Hamilton win, but it was a lack of proper strategy that cost the team big time.

Such things have been happening far too often and if we are brutally honest, the Red Bull-Max Verstappen combo has taken things up a notch and that is never a good sign for the opposition.

#2 George Russell is only going to get stronger this season

Lest we forget, Mercedes has two drivers! Even if the German team is able to produce another dominant machinery, it would not mean a straightforward title for Lewis. He does not have that luxury anymore as Valtteri Bottas is not there anymore. In George Russell, Lewis has his successor at Mercedes driving alongside him.

Not only that, this successor outscored him last season! Russell is going to battle tooth and nail against Lewis and does not make it easy for him in any which way. To add to this, last year was the first time Russell drove in a front-running team. This is his second season with the team and he is now an established Mercedes driver. He has the experience as well and would have learned from the mistakes he made last season.

As a younger driver, Russell's growth curve is steeper than Lewis Hamilton's and in his second season with the team, there is a bigger expectation of him beating Lewis in a straight fight. If you can't even beat your teammate, a title win is surely out of the picture.

#3 The Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton dream team is slowly disintegrating

F1 fans tend to forget that it was not just Lewis Hamilton that was responsible for the Turbo-Hybrid era dominance. That dominance came down to Mercedes having a dream team in place that had superstars in all departments. Andrew Shovlin, James Vowles, James Allison, and others did their jobs to perfection and hence gave Lewis the tools to win the title.

In the last few seasons, James Allison has progressed to a more senior position in the Mercedes hegemony. At the same time, James Vowles has left for the team principal role at Williams and there has been an exodus of quite a few Mercedes personnel to Aston Martin.

For Ferrari, the decline in late 2000s for the team started when key personnel started leaving. Rory Byrne, Ross Brawn, and Jean Todt, the golden trifecta that guided the team to the top had left by 2008. Since then, the team has not won any titles. For Mercedes as well, the key personnel is starting to leave.

Could this result in Lewis Hamilton not having the best tools to compete against Max Verstappen? This is certainly a possibility and the departure of James Vowles should not be underestimated.