(Motorsport) Seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has expressed that he “feels for the fans” because of Verstappen dominating the 2022 Formula 1 season and hopes that the title race will be closer next year. The Dutch racing driver has an outside chance of winning the title at the Singapore Grand Prix this Sunday, which would be the earliest coronation in 20 years. Verstappen has already won 11 out of 16 races and is currently a staggering 116 points ahead of second place Charles Leclerc. It's safe to say that it’s a matter of when and not if in terms of Verstappen winning his second World Championship this season.

Speaking about the season, Hamilton said “Definitely, I feel for the fans. For everyone and even for us last year going down to the wire, that was intense for everybody and so it's never great when the season finishes early. When I've experienced having it finish early in places like Mexico – for you as the one individual, it's great, but for the actual sport it's not spectacular So I'm really grateful to have had 2008 right down to the last 17 seconds, and obviously last year pretty much the same thing. So let's hope for the future it's a bit better." 

Ironically, Hamilton has won five out of his seven World Championships before the final race of the season and has enjoyed dominance in Formula 1 that few drivers will experience in their careers. The British racing driver has won a race in every single one of the 15 seasons he has competed in and will undoubtedly be desperate to win a race this season with Singapore presenting a good opportunity. The Marina Bay Street Circuit is more suitable for Ferrari and Mercedes compared to Red Bull but Verstappen has simply outperformed every single driver on the grid despite more ridiculous odds. 

The 2022 cars featured a massive overhaul in design changes meant to increase overtaking opportunities and feature closer races. Speaking about the changes, Hamilton said “It's not achieved what it was supposed to achieve, so we've failed in that. When you fail once you try again, and if you fail a second time you continue to try. I hope that more changes are made to try and bring all the teams closer and create better equality throughout the racing space. It's my hope we can all be closer. Red Bull has walked away with it this year, they've done a great job." 

Speaking about his title chances this weekend, Max Verstappen said “We just try to have a good weekend. To win it here would be nice, but it's not something I'm really thinking about. In one way I would have liked them (Ferrari) to still be in the fight. From my side, of course it's also nice to win it in a more calm way. But I think what is good to see is that they are already very competitive this year compared to the last few years, and I think that's what F1 needed. I have to say that last year I always started like first or second, this year I've started like way back and I still won the race, so they've also been really rewarding."

Also read: Hamilton confident Mercedes will bounce back after disappointing season