'Is it me or the car?': Lewis Hamilton after a second straight year without a win

Lewis Hamilton admitted to wondering if he ‘still has it’ after Mercedes had another disappointing Formula 1 season. For Hamilton, it was a second straight season without a Grand Prix victory to his name. It is a massive reversal in fortunes from the highs after 2014 where Hamilton won the Driver’s Championship in six of seven years. It went along his previous world title with McLaren. Hamilton’s success brought laurels to Silver Arrows as well with the Silverston-based team winning eight championships in a row. However, things have turned around dramatically for Hamilton and Mercedes. After being dethroned by Max Verstappen in a tightly contested 2021 season, Hamilton has dropped down the challenge while the Dutch driver has collected wins with ease. Having made his debut in 2007, Hamilton had not gone a season without winning a race until 2022. Now, he faces internal questions over his abilities to stay competitive. “Ultimately,” Hamilton told BBC Sport, “when you have difficult seasons like this, there are always going to be moments when you’re like: ‘Is it me, or is it the car? Do you still have it? Has it gone?’ “Because you’re missing that, you know… when the magic happens, when everything comes together, the car and you, and that spark, it’s extraordinary. And that’s what you’re in the search for,” he added. “I’m only human,” says the 38-year-old. “If anyone in the world tells you they don’t have those things, they’re in denial. We’re all human beings.” Despite the lack of wins, Hamilton ended the 2023 season in third place behind the Red Bull Racing pair of Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Teammate George Russell finished in eighth place. Hamilton admitted that it would be a tough season the moment he drove this year’s car back in February. “I remember it feeling exactly the same,” he says as he compares it to last year. “And that definitely was not a great feeling. I really had high hopes.” “In February, when we do a download of where the car is going, I was a little more apprehensive, because the previous year it was like: ‘The car is amazing, it’s unique, no-one’s going to have anything like it.’ And then we get to the first test… “So, I was a little bit more cautious when I was listening, and I was like: ‘We will see.’ And then the car had all these problems. I just knew it was going to be a long year.” Looking back, he says the changes that were required and asked for, were not made. To compound the frustration, there was no clarity over what was the issue and how to fix it. Verstappen finished the season on 575 points, a massive 290 points ahead of second-place Perez. He won 19 of 22 races in the season while finishing on the podium in 21 of them. Hamilton acknowledged that the Dutch driver barely had to break sweat through the season. “You can go through the lap times and some of the data from Max; he is just chilling at the front more often than not,” Hamilton says. “I don’t think he has broken a sweat during the year. “Even when we were chasing him in Austin, I don’t think he was sweating. I think he was just able to control it. And when you are in that position where you have performance and can back off, the car goes further. The tyres go longer and you are in a sweet spot and it is amazing to be in that place. “Ultimately, they have done an amazing job and worked and deserve it.”