The reality behind Hamilton’s punchy vows for F1 2022

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Feb 21, 2022, 4:22 PM

With a controversial 2021 Formula 1 season finale behind him, Lewis Hamilton is heading into this year in fighting spirit. Despite having the challenges of the series' new era to tackle, the seven-time world champion's determination could see him reach previously unscaled heights of driving feats

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"If you think what you saw at the end of last year was my best, wait until you see this year."

The 2021 Formula 1 season was the best in a decade, and the best driving of the campaign came from the controversially defeated title contender. Lewis Hamilton's response to being disqualified from qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was tremendous. It was 25 positions gained in one-and-a-half races – going from the back of the Interlagos sprint event grid to the GP victory, even with a second grid drop undoing a chunk of his race one progress. Yes, the fresh engine punch that penalty bought helped, but Hamilton still needed to pull off pass after pass and find a way by his fierce title rival.

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.