Damon Hill believes the odds are already stacked against Lewis Hamilton winning a record eighth title this season, but the ex-F1 driver isn't ruling out a comeback by the Mercedes charger.
Mercedes' troubled start to its 2022 campaign has left Hamilton trailing F1's Red Bull and Ferrari front-runners on the track and in the championship by a significant amount.
Ahead of this weekend's third round of racing in Australia, Hamilton is 29 points adrift from championship leader Charles Leclerc, with little hope of bridging the gap in the short term given the troubles impacting Mercedes' new generation car.
But longer-term, Hill wouldn't rule out a turnaround by the Brackley squad. Asked by Sky F1 if Hamilton must still be considered as a title contender, the 1996 F1 World Champion said: "Yes, I don’t see why not.
"I think he’s a long shot, and the betting odds apparently are quite long so it might be worth a tipple on Lewis.
"As I’ve said before, this is going to be a long old battle, we will not remember the first few races of this season by the time we get to halfway through, it’s going to be a slog, 23 Grands Prix.
"And if you’ve got a battle going on at the front then you haven’t got a dominant team, then it is unlikely that they will get that far ahead.
"So it’s highly likely that Mercedes could get in the mix.
"And don’t forget George Russell is in there as well. He’s doing a fine job and may even take points off of the other guys as well."
Mercedes has warned that picking itself up and dusting off its troubles won't happen overnight, despite its engineers sparing no effort to get on top of their car's problems.
Hamilton is also contributing as much as he can to try and lead his team out of its plight and showing no signs of frustration.
"I think if he is frustrated, I think he’s showing very little sign of that," said Hill.
“I think he shows disappointment and concern because he wants to win, but I think he’s got the comfort of seven world titles in the bank.
"And it’s no comfort when you come that close to making it eight [in 2021] and becoming the undisputed winningest driver of all time.
"So he’ll be determined as hell, but I think he’s got a calmness and maturity about him now which is very impressive to see."
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