A detailed performance review of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton in the 2012 Formula 1 season so far
Lewis Hamilton had a tumultuous 2011 season and the Brit wanted to improve on his performance in 2012.
The Brit went through a lot in 2011, he had recently fired his dad as his manager and his performances started to dip leading Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to say that Hamilton has made some wrong decisions and that is why he is facing difficulty.
Hamilton defended his decision but admitted that his form dip is serious and he is to be blamed for it solely. He left his girl friend mid season to focus on his performances. The Brit managed to improve his performance in the later part of the 2011 season
and finished it on a high winning three Grands Prix in the season equalling his teammate Jenson Button who beat him in the drivers standing a first for Hamilton to see a teammate overshadow him in the rankings.
2012 according to Hamilton was going to be different as he said that he has put in the hard work to come up with the results according to his potential. The season however was not an easy one as six world champions started the season.
The FIA regulations closed the gap between teams and raised the competitiveness very high. The season saw seven different Grand Prix winners in the season. Hamilton won his first Grand Prix of the 2012 later in the year becoming the seventh winner of the
season at the Canadian Grand Prix.
His season performance was consistently good throughout before his win. The opening race of the season was the Australian Grand Prix where his teammate Jenson Button won the race while Hamilton finished third.
Hamilton finished third at the Malaysian Grand Prix as well under overcast and rainy conditions. Fernando Alonso won the race and Sergio Perez of Sauber surprisingly finished second.
Hamilton got another podium finish at the Chinese Grand Prix finishing third again. The Brit found some trouble at the Bahrain Grand Prix finishing eighth there. The Spanish GP had the same result and another eighth place finish prompted McLaren to look
for updates for their car.
Monaco was a bit better as he finished fifth in the race, followed by his win at Canada. The European Grand Prix was disappointing for him as he had to retire from the race.
Hamilton’s performance in front of his home crowd was disappointing as well as McLaren rued over their lack of pace. Hamilton faced another retirement at the German Grand Prix, but then he went on to win the final race before the summer break and that leaves
the Brit on a high before resuming the season after the break.
It will be interesting to see how Hamilton fares in the season as he is still very much in contention for the title win. He is placed fourth in the standings with 117 points, while the leading driver Alonso has 164 points.
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