Former F1 driver rates 'vintage' Hamilton season: He doesn't care about third

Former F1 driver Karen Chandhok believes Lewis Hamilton had a"vintage" 2023 season, after managing to clinch third in theDrivers' Championship. The Mercedes driver improved afterstruggling in 2022 with the troubled W13, which caused him tofinish sixth in the championship. Despite not taking a race winthroughout the year, Hamilton did manage to take his first polesince the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Hungary. Chandhokhighlighted some of his favourite moments from the seven-time WorldChampion throughout the season. "I think it was a solid year. Ayear where he had great drives, Mexico was a very strongperformance, Spain he had a strong run to the podium," he told theSky Sports F1 podcast. "There was some very, very strong vintageLewis Hamilton drives where he just delivered the maximumpotential. In contrast you've got races like Qatar, poor qualifyingin Miami, then sort of went off the boil a bit in the last threeweekends. "In Brazil the team collectively had a shocker, but inVegas, Abu Dhabi he just sort of went away a bit." Chadhok: CanMercedes deliver next year? Hamilton stood a chance of takingsecond away from an underperforming Sergio Perez in thechampionship, after finishing on the podium six times. But theMexican managed to seal the historic one-two for Red Bull after adisappointing weekend for Mercedes in Brazil. Even though it couldbe considered a success for Hamilton after another tough season,Chandhok believes he will not care too much about the overallresult. "On a whole a solid season for Lewis, but he doesn't careabout finishing third in the championship," said Chandhok. "I thinkif you asked him how many times he finished third in thechampionship, he probably wouldn't know. He exists to win. "For me,the biggest question going into next season is what will Mercedesdeliver for the drivers? "I still maintain they've got the bestdriver lineup in F1 and they have done ever since they signedGeorge. As a neutral, the whole world want to see them fightingagainst Max and Ferrari for the World Championship."