Can we really consider Lewis Hamilton a title contender? Mathematically, he has a chance, but how does the reality look like?
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| Photo: Simon Galloway |
Hamilton has stood on the podium four times so far this season. The first podium came in China, where he finished third, followed by two second places in Canada and Monaco. Now, in Barcelona, he stood on the top step of the podium after securing his maiden Ferrari victory. This success promoted him to second place in the drivers' standings, 41 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
With that, many people are now considering him a title contender, but how realistic are these title hopes?
Well, we must admit that Ferrari's form is improving. They brought many upgrades to Barcelona, including a redesigned lower part of the car, sidepods, floor and diffuser. They even used updated wheel covers that should help with tyre overheating, which was a significant advantage given the usually severe tyre degradation in Barcelona. According to many sources from the paddock, the SF26 should be even the best car on the grid. The only problem is its engine — not the hybrid unit, but the combustion part.
According to Italian outlet Autoracer.it, Ferrari is even losing around 30 horsepower to Mercedes, which should have around 580 HP [combustion part only]. And how can they fix this problem? Well, they are betting on ADUO. Thanks to it, they should be able to increase the output of the combustion engine. So far, however, it is not clear how ADUO will work in practice anyway Ferrari plans to introduce the first upgrade of the combustion unit at the next Grand Prix in Austria. However, as Autoracer.it reports, this first step in engine development should bring only around five horsepower.
If Ferrari is able to maximize the potential of their combustion engine, it is likely that the Italian team will be able to challenge Mercedes at the front. Even Lando Norris has admitted that Ferrari will be in pretty solid shape if they manage to use the ADUO properly.
“We're lucky that Ferrari don't have a better engine at the minute,” Norris told Sky Sports. “If they had a better engine, they're dominating.
Also, we have to mention that Lewis's position in the championship is partly due to Russell's bad luck — a poorly timed safety car in Suzuka, penalties in Monaco and retirement in Canada. So Lewis hasn't even had a proper chance to fight Russell for second place in the championship on track, wheel to wheel. Instead, he has mainly taken advantage of Russell's misfortunes.
Therefore, we should take the hype surrounding "Lewis is going for the title" with some caution.
"I'm not sure that I want to reply to this kind of question," Vasseur [team principal of Scuderia Ferrari] said when asked whether Ferrari would fully back Hamilton in a potential title fight.
"I had probably the same comments two weeks ago, that everything was a disaster - and now we are speaking about the world championship.
"This is the worst approach that I could have. The approach is to go to Austria exactly with the same approach that I had in Barcelona and not to think about the championship or to project yourself with 25 more wins, [or] what I could do [to push for the title]. I will never do it."
So, if we put all the pieces together, Lewis has a real chance to fight for the title. The only thing that could put him out of reach is the combustion part of the power unit. How quickly Ferrari can solve this issue will become clear in the upcoming races.