Lewis Hamilton hopes that the learnings Mercedes took from the last race in Japan will put it in good stead to be more competitive in Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ troublesome start to the season continued a fortnight ago at Suzuka as George Russell classified seventh and Hamilton trailed home two positions behind.
However, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff remained defiant that the squad’s showing was more promising from a pace point of view than the final result indicated.
With the Sprint format providing a single hour of practice, the German marque has elected to not bring developments to its W15 car upon the series’ return to Shanghai.
Therefore, Hamilton admits that Mercedes is dependent on the lessons it obtained from the previous weekend to take a step forward to challenge Ferrari and McLaren.
“Nothing’s changed with that car, so it’s going to be the same car this weekend,” Hamilton told Sky F1. “But we understand it a little bit more than the last weekend.
“We did make improvements and so [we’re] bringing some of those learnings into this weekend and then on top of that some new direction again.
“I think if we could go back, we would have done things differently, that’s the benefit of hindsight and experience.
“So we’ll try and bring that here this weekend and see if we can implement some of those changes we would have perhaps done, perhaps further in Suzuka and hopefully that can find us a bit of performance.”
Hamilton, who will depart Mercedes to move to Ferrari in 2025, has endured his worst beginning to an F1 campaign with a total of 10 points from the first four races.
The Briton, 39, has highlighted how his experience has been instrumental in being able to deal with the mental setbacks that have ensued from Mercedes’ difficulties.
“I think over time you understand how to manage your time and your energy and your recovery and realizing that every day is a new day and you get up and try your best,” he explained.
“If you’re someone that’s like when we’re training as athletes for example, so if you’re like running 40, 50 miles a week, if you were to do 100 miles a week, doesn’t mean you’re gonna win a race. So it’s really more about where you put your energy into.
“It’s the communication with the team, as George mentioned, is continuing to try to leave no stone unturned. And me personally, it’s something I’m thinking about all the time.”
