Lewis Hamilton has said he expects Aston Martin to be extremely competitive and fighting at the front of the field during the beginning of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Aston Martin emerged as the surprise package in pre-season testing, appearing to have built a car that could even trouble the established top teams.
Subsequently, many in the paddock have tipped the Silverstone outfit to be an equal match for Mercedes in the opening rounds – including the Silver Arrows’ team principal, Toto Wolff.
Questioned on what he’s been told about Aston Martin’s competitiveness, Hamilton acknowledged that he expects to be battling the green-liveried cars in Bahrain at some stage this weekend.
“Firstly, I’m really happy to see that Aston has taken such a step forward and they are, as far as we know, fully in the fight,” Hamilton said.
“From all the data we have, you don’t know what fuel loads people are on and these different kinds of things – it’s a bit all over the place – but it looks like they are very, very strong and they could be fighting right at the front.
“We’ll find out over the next day or so. I can’t say whether they are ahead of us, or we are behind them, but I’m hoping always that there will be more than just two teams or three teams in the mix.”
While Mercedes seem to have a stronger baseline than it did at the beginning of last season, the German manufacturer’s new W14 car still appears to possess some teething troubles.
After testing Hamilton had already predicted Mercedes would start the year behind both Ferrari and Red Bull in the pecking order, with his team-mate, George Russell, ruling it out of being in contention for the win in Bahrain.
Hamilton has, however, conceded that he was already aware of the position the team was in with its new package the moment he drove the car at a shakedown event.
But, nonetheless, F1’s record win holder has turned to look at the positives and is confident that Mercedes can recover throughout the season to get back to the top.
“I knew from the moment I drove the car where we were,” the seven-time champion admitted. “And the challenges that we would be facing.
“On a positive, not having the bouncing this year is a huge plus, and it really kind of, I think trying to understand what the problems were whilst having that bouncing really masks so many, it makes it difficult of figure out what those are. So we don’t have that now, and now we can focus on just pure performance.
“I’m encouraged to see just the focus and the courage of everyone with the team, so focused on getting us back to the top,” he continued. “We’re not where we wanted to start a season, naturally. But this still is a multi-world championship-winning team and group of people. So I believe in that.
Throughout the three days of pre-season running, Mercedes was spotted running a high-downforce rear wing, resulting in very low top speeds.
But, with the Bahrain International Circuit possessing numerous long straights, Hamilton, a five-time victor in Bahrain, has disclosed Mercedes has brought a revised rear wing to the race weekend as it aims to improve its overall competitiveness.
“In terms of the things we have here, we have got a wing that that we are going to try and we hope will be more suited to this circuit,” Hamilton revealed.
“I don’t think that’s going to change everything massively, but hopefully that will push us in the right direction.”
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