Formula 1: Many actually believe Lewis Hamilton’s claims

Lewis Hamilton recently made the interesting claim that Mercedes won’t be able to fight for wins early in the 2022 Formula 1 season.

The 2022 Formula 1 season is scheduled to get underway this coming Sunday with the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, which hosted a three-day preseason testing session at the end of last week.

Lewis Hamilton, who is set to begin his second attempt to become the sport’s first ever eight-time world champion, claimed after testing that Mercedes are struggling and that they are not currently in position to fight for victories.

He claimed that while there is potential in the car, they will likely not be at the top of the charts for at least the first few races.

If that sounds all too familiar, it’s because it is. Mercedes, which are now eight-time reigning world champions, have a way of “sandbagging”, hiding their true potential until it really counts, and making claims such as these to go along with that narrative.

It’s basically the same thing every year: Mercedes claim to be struggling, and then when they end up winning a number of races, they act surprised, as if they’ve pulled off some kind of a miraculous turnaround.

They literally tried to play the “underdog” role after winning the first eight races of the 2019 season and basically wrapping up title number six before the summer break.

Remind yourself that they are eight-time reigning world champions for a reason, and it has nothing to do with being underdogs.

However, Hamilton also made reference to this skepticism, noting that many are talking about the fact that the Silver Arrows do usually play themselves down. He claimed that those fans will be surprised, because things are apparently different this year.

What is interesting is that many do actually seem to believe Hamilton this time around.

And perhaps he is right, with the new rules and regulations having been introduced for the 2022 season following eight straight years of Mercedes world championships during the V6 turbo hybrid era.

All offseason, Hamilton has been listed by WynnBET as the betting favorite to win the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Yet now he has dropped to second, with his odds listed at +240.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull is listed as the new favorite to win the opener at +210.

So it seems that fans are buying it.

Hamilton is still listed as the favorite to win the world title, but only slightly; it is much closer than it has been. He is listed at +155, while Verstappen is listed at +200.

Mercedes are also still listed as the favorites to win the constructor title, but their odds have also gotten longer and now sit at -112 after they were listed as overwhelming favorites throughout the offseason.

So it appears as though many do still believe that Hamilton and Mercedes will figure it out, but that they will only do so after struggling and perhaps finding themselves behind after the first few races.

Tune in to ESPN at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 20 for the live broadcast of the Bahrain Grand Prix from Bahrain International Circuit. If you have not begun your free trial of FuboTV, do so today!