Following the disaster that was 2022, Lewis Hamilton has remarkably been tipped as the favourite to claim the 2023 Drivers’ Championship, something which would see him become an unprecedented eight-time World Champion.
According to sports betting analytics firm AEX Analytics, the 37-year-old has a 5/3 (62.5%) chance of winning the crown next season, something which would suggest that a Mercedes comeback is on the horizon.
Regardless of the data, 2023 does look set to be a much better season for Mercedes, who spent the first half of 2022 trying to overcome the horrendous porpoising phenomena.
By the time they had overcome the issue, which saw them often battling for a top five rather than a podium, the Silver Arrows were well off the pace of both Red Bull and Ferrari.
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To give Mercedes credit, they worked relentlessly in the second half of the season to at least claw Ferrari back, something they came agonisingly close to pulling off.
The Brackley-based team only just missed out on second in the Constructors’ Championship, following a run of good performances by Hamilton and George Russell.
After claiming just one podium from the first eight races of the year, Hamilton went on an impressive run of five consecutive rostrum finishes, which spanned from the Canadian Grand Prix to the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 103-time GP winner also claimed second place at three of the last four races of the season, with the Brazilian Grand Prix having been a particularly strong weekend for the Germans.
At Interlagos, Russell claimed the team’s only victory of the season, with the 24-year-old having claimed the team’s only pole position earlier in the year at the Hungaroring.
None of Hamilton’s nine podium finishes in the recent season were victories, which saw the Brit fail to claim a win for the first season of his F1 career.
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Up until 2022, the Stevenage-born driver had won at least one race in every season he’d competed in, a record that ended following a DNF at the season finale.
As well as this, Hamilton ended the year sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, his lowest ever result.
Despite the negative statistics, Hamilton was the better Mercedes driver in the second half of the season, with AEX Analytics certainly believing that he’s going to carry his form into 2023.