"I do hope that these rules deliver" - Lewis Hamilton reveals his expectations for new F1 cars ahead of 2022 season

Lewis Hamilton is hoping the new regulatory changes in F1 can deliver on the promise of closer racing and more wheel-to-wheel action in the upcoming 2022 season.

The 37-year-old was asked to share his thoughts on the new rule changes implemented to make F1 more competitive again and how it could lead to the rise of more title challengers. The seven-time world champion said:

“Well, it is a really exciting time. You don’t know where everyone stands at the moment but I do hope that these rules deliver what Ross (Brawn) had shown us all those years ago in terms of closer racing. This definitely puts everyone, hopefully, on a more level playing field. The system still is the case that people can still start developing... for example last year, you would assume Ferrari perhaps didn’t do much development on that car and just put everything into this year’s car. Does that mean they are several months ahead, or a team is several months ahead of another? We will wait to see.”

Hamilton was the fastest driver on track on the final day of pre-season testing at Circuit de Catalunya with a time of 1:19.138 in the new Mercedes W13. This bodes well for the Silver Arrows, who will hope to further improve in the second pre-season testing session in Bahrain.

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Lewis Hamilton absolves Max Verstappen of any wrongdoing over 2021 Abu Dhabi GP fiasco

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is not harboring any hard feelings towards Max Verstappen for the way the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix played out. Verstappen clinched his maiden world title under controversial circumstances at the Briton's expense during the F1 2021 season finale at the Yas Marina Circuit.

After a lengthy period of reflection away from the sport, Hamilton has decided to let any negative feelings towards the incident go. When asked about his feelings for the Dutchman, the seven-time world champion said:

“This has nothing to do with Max [Verstappen]. Max did everything a driver would do given the opportunity he was given. He is a great competitor and we will go into another battle like we did last year and conduct ourselves... we will obviously grow from our races and experiences we had last year also this season.”

Lewis Hamilton, however, has warned rivals that he intends to come back even better in 2022. He claims he is just as hungry as his entire Mercedes team to return to championship winning ways.