The podium conquered in extremis by Lewis Hamilton in the first race of the 2022 world championship in Sakhir had not entirely comforted the Mercedes on the real potential of the W13, which appeared in difficulty in terms of competitiveness compared to other top teams such as Ferrari and Red Bull. Confirmation, with even more depressing results than those obtained in Bahrain, has come a Jeddahwith the lowest point of the entire weekend recorded with the exclusion of in Q1 of the same Hamilton. The seven-time world champion did not go beyond the 10th place in the race, with George Russell which slightly raised the mood of the Anglo-German house by crossing the finish line in fifth position.
However, there remains the general bitterness of a car that does not respect what were the most ambitious plans of the Mercedes men on the eve of the season, above all the team principal Toto Wolff. The Austrian manager also remarked on the team’s disappointment in the story of the Saudi Arabian GP, aggravated by unfortunate episodes for the reigning world champion team: “The race was the reflection of our current position – has explained – the performance gaps seemed to be similar in qualifying and in the race, and clearly there is a lot of work for us to do to get into the fight at the top. George handled his race well and got the most we could have hoped for today without incidents ahead of him. For Lewis, it has always been a difficult afternoon starting 15th. The first Safety Car came too early to race to the end in the medium, so we were out like the other cars that started in the hard; then we missed the opportunity to re-enter just before the pit lane closed under the VSC, which cost us a couple of places. The general picture is bleakand it is clear that we must continue to work hard if we are to deliver a more positive performance in Melbourne ”.
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