Lewis Hamilton is yet again likely to miss out on fighting for this year’s championship. By his own estimation, the W14 by Mercedes is almost a second slower than Red Bull’s RB19 on a single lap.
Such a vast deficit straight away rejects Mercedes to be even vying for the championship. However, this situation wasn’t something that the Silver Arrows was aiming for and instead hoped for a championship-contending year after seeing a huge slump in 2022.
Hamilton was desperately looking forward to 2023 after his hopes for 2022 were over after the initial few rounds. But he now claims amidst the newer Mercedes miseries that his ideas were ignored when he tried to tell what would work in the new car.
The battle between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton during the Bahrain Grand Prix pic.twitter.com/ZPUaLFfCVY
— FORMULA ADDICT (@Formuladdict) March 7, 2023
Also read: Helmut Marko Bashes Ferrari For Continuing Charles Leclerc’s Woes
Lewis Hamilton claims his suggestions weren’t heard
In a career spanning 16 seasons, Hamilton has won seven-world championships. On the other hand, he has also seen some tough years in F1. So one would expect him to have massive experience in knowing what makes a good car.
Hamilton claims he tried to help the team overcome the limitations of W14. But as per him, his team didn’t hear the most successful race driver.
“Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton told BBC Sport. “I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”
Hamilton now demands some accountability from his team and expects them to admit that they didn’t listen to him when the time was right. He still feels the car can improve, and if the team works in his suggested areas, Mercedes could improve.
The future would be better
Hamilton states that he has full confidence in his team. As of now, he expects them to strengthen the car’s balance through the corners and look into the weak spots to improve the rest of the season.
Lewis Hamilton accentuates the positives after finishing P5 👍#BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/jfQgeMLfrl
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2023
He agrees that the year the team didn’t get it right with the car. However, he claims that the same team is still a seven-time world champion and will get things right in the future.
But for this season, things look as if Mercedes is no more in contention to vie for the championship. Many engineers at Brackley even feel they should start focusing on the 2024 season.
