Priestley saw big day for Hamilton in Hungary: 'Re-stamp his authority'

Marc Priestley believes Mercedes still has a chance of winning second place in the Constructors' Championship this season. The team is only a few points away from Ferrari in the standings. Priestley sees opportunities for Mercedes because of their strong reliability.

Mercedes had a difficult start to 2022. While Red Bull Racing and Ferrari battled each other for victory, Mercedes often had to watch and hope for DNFs from the top two teams to finish on the podium. Although the performance at the start of the season was not top-notch, Mercedes had the reliability of the engine under control. Only one Mercedes car failed to cross the finish line in 2022, and that was due to a crash.

Ferrari is currently the least reliable car on the grid, which has allowed Mercedes to take advantage of the Italian's DNFs on several occasions. The team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are just 30 points away from second place in the championship. Former McLaren engineer Priestley believes Mercedes can push past the Italians for P2 in the standings at the end of the season. "If Mercedes can continue this form, there’s a possibility they could actually take second place in the Constructors’ Championship”, he says on the Chequered Flag podcast from the BBC.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was a successful weekend for Mercedes. Russell secured a surprising pole position on Saturday, while Hamilton managed to come back from P7 to P2 in the race. "I think it was quite an important day for Lewis Hamilton to sort of re-stamp his authority after all the hype that surrounded George Russell", Priestley continues.

"Of course, that’s great for the team, it’s great for George, but if you’re Lewis Hamilton, you just want to get your elbows out a little bit and say ‘hang on a minute, I’m still the man. I’m still here’", ends the Formula One expert.