The start of the ground-effect era was far from ideal for Lewis Hamilton. In 2022, the seven-time champion finished the season winless for the first time in his F1 career. Sadly, that run extended to another year as Mercedes failed to make much progress in 2023. However, in 2024, Hamilton finally has the monkey off his back and has registered two consecutive wins. After finally ending his 945-day win drought, Hamilton has opened up on a crucial lesson he has learned.
2024 marks the 18th year in Hamilton’s F1 career. In most of these years, the Briton has scored race wins and won the championship in seven of those seasons.
Unlike most of the drivers on the current grid, he has had to adjust to each era of regulations, and the cars that adhere to them. However, to his own confession, he failed to replicate that trait in the current era of cars.
Speaking with the media, as quoted by RacingNews365, he said, “Still to this point, I think ultimately as a driver, you have to be adaptive and you have to concede that sometimes your approaches to certain things aren’t perfect.”
“Ultimately, as drivers, you should be able to drive anything, and I think we can. In certain situations, some drivers are able to deal with things better than others and it takes some people a short time, others longer, to adapt. But I wouldn’t say it’s a disaster,” he added.
SIR LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX!
HIS FIRST WIN IN 945 DAYS! pic.twitter.com/HGVHnMcjQT
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 7, 2024
Hamilton confessed to not adopting this philosophy in the new era of Mercedes cars. In his own words, he was “stubborn” and unwilling to change his driving style to suit the car and the conditions.
Once he realized he needed to mend his ways, he did try to “massage” his way through. That too hasn’t worked well, in his opinion.
However, recent results suggest otherwise. Not only have the Mercedes engineers shown a better understanding of the concept, but the team have also managed to take the fight to Red Bull. Hamilton and his teammate George Russell, meanwhile, have made the best of the resources by bagging three wins.
Mercedes is now effectively in the fight to dethrone Red Bull from the constructors’ championship. Meanwhile, McLaren, who have established themselves as the prime challengers to Red Bull, are showing signs of weakness as well.
