After going through his first win-less F1 season in 2022, Lewis Hamilton was hoping for a much easier start to life in 2023. Unfortunately for the seven-time world champion, the W14 has not been easy to drive in the opening two rounds of this year.
In both Bahrain and Jeddah, Hamilton finished P5, which isn’t where an aspiring title winner should finish. To make matters worse for the Brit, his teammate George Russell seemed to have a much better time than him at the Saudi Arabian GP. This has led to rumors of Hamilton considering a move away from Mercedes, and also some speculation that Mercedes are deliberately compromising his performance.
Struggling Hamilton says he feels no connection with his carhttps://t.co/PHdpUuTzpF
— eNCA (@eNCA) March 19, 2023
Fans on social media feel that the W14 is being tuned in such a way that Hamilton finds it to be undrivable. There are fans who feel that Mercedes want Hamilton to struggle so that they can find a way to get Mick Schumacher into the team, with the latter currently being a reserve driver for the Silver Arrows.
One fan even connected Hamilton’s struggles to Angela Cullen leaving. Cullen was a pivotal figure in all his years of success, but her stepping down and moving away from Mercedes so abruptly was ‘fishy’.
Is Lewis Hamilton losing motivation?
Hamilton has broken just about every record there is to break in F1. The only record that is remaining for him to break is becoming the F1 driver with the most number of world championships, for which he is currently tied with Michael Schumacher at seven.
If Mercedes continue producing cars that are as underwhelming as the W14, Hamilton will lose out on a lot of time in his bid to win his eighth. At the age of 38, fighting for an outside chance of finishing in the podium places is something that is demotivating Hamilton, according to some fans.
Publicly, Hamilton insists that his full support lies in working hard with the team which gave him so much success, but reports of a rift within the camp have grown much stronger over the last few weeks.
What is making Hamilton struggle in 2023?
At the end of the 2022 season, Hamilton admitted that he was glad to see the back of the W13. However, this was before he got behind the wheels of the W14, and as soon as he found out problems with the car, he went public with his criticism.
Hamilton revealed that after their dismal campaign last year, he spoke to the team about areas they could improve on. To his disappointment, Mercedes did not listen to his suggestions and their struggles continue.
In an interview after the Saudi Arabian GP last weekend, Hamilton admitted that downforce was the main reason behind him not being 100% comfortable with the car, something he hopes Mercedes will work on in the coming races.
