The 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ended on a sour note for Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to retire from the race on lap 56 of 58, after experiencing a hydraulic issue.
While disappointing for Mercedes to have to retire their driver from the race, they will perhaps be pleased that it is stunningly their first retirement of the season due to a mechanical failure.
With 22 races taking place in 2022, and the team running two cars in every Grand Prix, experiencing only one retirement is very impressive, especially when you consider that Fernando Alonso alone has failed to finish six races this year.
Fans were incredibly disappointed to see Hamilton retire from the race, along with Alonso, as they looked forward to potentially seeing a recreation of the infamous donuts photos with Sebastian Vettel after the checkered flag.
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The retirement ensures that the seven-time world champion will finish the season behind his teammate George Russell, with Hamilton eventually finishing in sixth place.
It has been a miserable campaign for the 37-year-old who has finished winless for the first ever time in his career, only really being able to challenge for victories since major upgrades were developed by Mercedes for the Grand Prix in Austin.
The W13 struggled with porpoising in the early stages of the season, with the bouncing of the car causing physical pain to both the Mercedes drivers, as engineers remained baffled on how to solve the problem.
Speaking before the race in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton joked that of all the cars that he has driven in his stellar F1 career, this year’s edition is not one which he would like to have to drive again.
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“I don’t even plan to drive this one again. It won’t be one of the ones I request to have in my contract,” he said.
“We have some downforce. We just need a much more efficient car and everybody in the team knows exactly what are the problems are where we have gone wrong so I’m pretty confident they are not going to build the next car with any of those characteristics.”
Mercedes have looked a much more competitive team of late, but only time will tell if they have finally cracked the new regulations, or whether they have simply taken advantage of the fact that the other teams have already focused their attention on their 2023 car development.