"Much bigger problems this year" - Lewis Hamilton hopes Mercedes is looking for long-term fix to its issues

Lewis Hamilton was left despondent after a below-par showing by Mercedes on the first official day of the 2022 F1 season. The Mercedes driver finished a lowly 7th in FP1 and 9th in FP2, highlighting the problems faced by the German team.

Speaking to the media afterward, Hamilton revealed that Mercedes is looking at a long-term fix to its issues. He said:

“We’ve had small problems in the past, relatively compared to this year, we’ve had much smaller problems. We’re faced with much bigger problems this year. Everything we do to try to fix it doesn’t really change that, so it appears that it’s probably going to be a more longer-term fix, so nothing in the short term.”

Claiming that the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari is ominous for now and that this was in no way similar to what Mercedes faced last season, the Briton said:

“You look at the Red Bulls, they’re a long, long way ahead. It’s in the region of eight to nine tenths ahead of us, and Ferrari is probably something like half-a-second. So we’re fighting and scrapping with whoever’s behind them. My mindset is still just trying to be the best I can be, just getting the most out of the car.”

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Mercedes is not bluffing, claims Lewis Hamilton

There have been suggestions up and down the paddock and even from drivers and fans alike that the suggestions of the Mercedes struggling were not entirely true. The team does have a history of playing down expectations before the start of a season. Looking at how the car is behaving on the track right now, it does, however, appear that Mercedes is struggling.

Even Lewis Hamilton alluded to those suggestions by saying that the team wasn't hiding any performance. He said:

“As you can see we’re a long way off, we’re not bluffing, like people assumed we were. It is what it is, we’ll work as hard as we can through it and do what we can.”

In terms of the pecking order, Mercedes still finds itself third behind Red Bull and Ferrari. And with the kind of development rate we expect in F1 this season, it won't be out of order to expect Mercedes to close the gap to the front this season and get back to winning ways.