F1: Lewis Hamilton 'Verstappen's number 1 car is lame!'[F1-Gate.com]

Mercedes F1’s Lewis Hamilton has joked that Max Verstappen’s No. 1 car isn’t ‘cool’ as he looks back on a tough 2022 season.

2022 has never been the season Mercedes F1 wanted, but it certainly ended the season on a positive note.

Mercedes F1’s next-generation car struggled to keep pace with Red Bull and Ferrari earlier this year due to poaching/bounce issues, but Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are expected to regularly race at the top in the second half of the season. It’s clear that the team has taken steps to fix the issues they were facing in the beginning.

However, Lewis Hamilton ended up dropping a special record. For the first time since he entered F1 in 2007, he has failed to win a single season. But in Hamilton’s own words, he didn’t care much.

“Verstappen’s number 1 is big and ugly. He’s as big as you can tell!” laughed Lewis Hamilton in an interview with Channel 4.

“Well, it’s just a joke. I don’t care about those things. A lot of people say something and expect a reaction from me, but I’m fine with that. It doesn’t really matter.”

“Obviously I wanted to fight up front and compete with Red Bull, but this year has been a great adventure.”

Since 2014, F1 drivers have fixed car numbers and Lewis Hamilton had a chance to get the number 1 car, but with the exception of free practice at the 2018 Abu Dhabi F1 GP, he wore his own car number, 44.

“44 is a special number for me,” said Lewis Hamilton after practice for the 2018 Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix.

“But people involved with my car also travel and when they see the number 44 on buses and flight numbers, they say it’s becoming a part of their life. I’m very happy and it’s true for me.”

“Every year I start with a clean slate and feel like nobody has a champion. I want to be a champion.”

Max Verstappen, who won the F1 world champion title for the second time in a row, will continue to be the number 1 car in 2023.