Lewis Hamilton has reiterated that Mercedes failed to apply his advice when assembling its 2023 Formula 1 car, which prompted him to initiate “big, big talks” with the team.
Despite slumping to third in the standings upon F1’s latest technical overhaul in 2022, a late victory in Brazil inspired Mercedes to retain its ‘zeropod’ concept for the second year of the latest ground effect regulations.
However, Team Principal Toto Wolff admitted after the first qualifying session in Bahrain that the German marque would need to pursue an alternative car philosophy.
Mercedes introduced a sizeable upgrade in Monaco in May that featured a conventional sidepod solution, but the team ended a season winless for the first time since 2011.
Hamilton admits that he was already braced for a “long year” that wouldn’t yield a World Championship fight from the moment he discovered the direction chosen for the W14.
“I remember it feeling exactly the same [as last year],” Hamilton conceded to the BBC. “And that definitely was not a great feeling. I really had high hopes.”
“In February, when we do a download of where the car is going, I was a little more apprehensive, because the previous year it was like: ‘The car is amazing, it’s unique, no-one’s going to have anything like it.’ And then we get to the first test…
“So, I was a little bit more cautious when I was listening, and I was like: ‘We will see.’ And then the car had all these problems. I just knew it was going to be a long year.”
Having dropped behind a resurgent Aston Martin and Ferrari in the opening stages of the year, Hamilton issued that he’d told Mercedes “the issues with the car” in 2022.
Reflecting on that troubled period for the Brackley squad, Hamilton noted: “I’m sure there were frustrations, because I had asked for certain changes, and they weren’t done.”
The Briton divulged that he later began to hold “big, big talks” with the engineers throughout the season as the team bids to return to title contention once again in 2024.
“No-one knew exactly what the problem was,” he added. “No-one knew how to fix it.
“Having the experience of the previous year, I just applied myself, in terms of digging down, sitting with the guys. We were having much better meetings.
“I was able to stay a lot more positive during the year and be like: ‘It’s going to be a long season, but let’s not give up. Let’s keep pushing towards getting the maximum out of the car, whatever that may be.’
“I think for this year they thought: ‘The fundamentals are good and we just have to go here.’ And it was not the case. That’s why I was frustrated in February, because they hadn’t made the changes I’d asked for.
“But we didn’t have a North Star necessarily at the beginning of the year, knowing exactly where we need to work towards. It’s been kind of a zig-zag line trying to frickin’ get to where we need to be.
“Every now and again, something positive happens. You’re like: ‘OK, that’s it.’ And then it shifts, so the goalpost is always moving, which is typical.
Although it launched a revised car concept midway through the year and eventually finished second to a rampant Red Bull outfit, Mercedes continued to be hampered by the W14’s launch-spec architecture – which couldn’t be addressed under the restraints imposed by the series’ $135m budget cap.
With Mercedes pressing ahead with plans for an all-new car design for 2024, Hamilton believes the team is finally heading in the right direction under the current rules cycle.
“I do believe we have a North Star now,” Hamilton expressed. “Which I don’t think we’ve had for two years. But still getting there is not a straight line.
“And there were just certain things, decisions that have been made, that just left you blocked at the end of a road, and you can’t do anything because of the cost cap and all these different things.
“If you look at the Red Bull – and they have done an amazing job – from Bahrain last year, they had a bouncing issue and they fixed it that week. And then you can imagine, if you’re trying to build a wall, they are one brick after the other, just development, development, development.
“Maybe they added something and it didn’t add performance. But they were still building. Whereas for us, we had to knock down the wall, if you like, in terms of aero.
“We had a lot of aero on that first car last year. We had to basically knock a ton of downforce off it and then slowly try to add. But every time we tried to add, it was worse. So we just didn’t improve for a long, long, long time.
“I think we understand the car so much better. They have developed great tools in the background. So, naturally, I’m hopeful. But I’m not going to hold my breath.”
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