“Lewis Hamilton effect is beating Ferrari”: Former F1 driver feels 7x champion is the sole reason for Mercedes‘ P2 position in WCC

Former F1 driver-turned-pundit Jolyon Palmer feels Lewis Hamilton is single-handedly keeping Ferrari at bay in the fight for second place in the constructors' championship. The seven-time world champion is helping Mercedes secure second place and end the season on somewhat of a high.

On the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, Palmer stated that Ferrari is still in the battle for second place with Mercedes but is unable to beat the latter. Since Ferrari beat George Russell but is still behind Mercedes, it is clear that Hamilton's excellent performances are playing a key factor in the constructors' championship chase.

“[Ferrari are] still locked in this battle with Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. There was a point in the early stages and on the grid where they were 1-2 and Mercedes were starting from sixth and eighth. And they didn’t take anything out of Mercedes. Now they did beat George Russell pretty comfortably, actually. So it is only, I think, the Hamilton effect right now that’s beating Ferrari,” Palmer said.

Palmer also pointed out that since Russell is struggling, the reason behind Ferrari trailing Mercedes could be a combination of both Hamilton performing great and the Italian team struggling once again.

“Russell, for the second weekend in a row, is behind and struggling a little bit. So how much of it is Lewis Hamilton finding his feet with these Mercedes upgrades Or how much is it Ferrari struggling again? Probably the answer is somewhere in between the two,” he added.

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Lewis Hamilton is more focused on securing second place in the constructors' championship with Mercedes than in the drivers' championship

Lewis Hamilton recently stated that he is more focused on helping his team secure second place in the constructors' championship than him bagging second place in the drivers' championship.

When Sportskeeda asked about his fight with Sergio Perez at the table, Hamilton said:

“I think it's unlikely, but we’ll give it our best shot. At the end of the day, either way, it doesn’t make any difference whether we are second or third. It’s not for us to accomplish that. Getting the team second is more of a goal, I think that is the goal. But I think we were on a good trajectory. But obviously for us, there are only four races and Checo has to have four really bad races which is unlikely.”

Mercedes and Ferrari are 22 points apart with three races to go. The race for second place in the table is certainly on as the season nears its conclusion.