It was no secret that the Mercedes zero-pod concept was flawed from the start. When the teams unveiled their cars in 2022, the vision was hailed as ‘radical’ and ‘phenomenal’. However, soon enough, Lewis Hamilton and his crew realized that they had made a horrible mistake. Although the team fixed these problems, it wasn’t what Hamilton had in mind.
2023 turned a new leaf, yet Mercedes refused to do what the rest of the teams did: look at Red Bull. Confident in their approach, the first half of the season once again proved them wrong as their rivals dominated at the front of the grid. Nonetheless, fans let out a sigh of relief when the team arrived at Monaco. Lo-and-behold, sidepods.
However, the 6x Mercedes champ wipes his hand clean of any involvement in this successful new change.
Lewis Hamilton voices his opinion on the new sidepod concept
The new concept rewarded the team with Hamilton and Russell sharing the podium in Barcelona. Despite this much-awaited triumph, Hamilton did not envision it to be this way.
The W14’s new look mirrors Red Bull’s RB19, and leaning toward the opposition doesn’t sit right with the Mercedes driver. As reported by the DailyMail, Hamilton revealed the drivers’ push for change. “These are ideas from the past year, with the team and George Russell we have been constantly working on questions like ‘Why does this look like this’ and ‘Have we tried this yet’.”
But these changes weren’t what Hamilton wanted. “Now we have wider sidepods, a bit towards Red Bull’s, and I can say it wasn’t my decision to go this way.”
In fact, the driver goes so far as to label the W14 the ‘prettier sister’ of the cursed W13. “When we put the car on the track for the first time this year it was almost a copy of last year’s car, only it didn’t bounce. A bit like a prettier sister, but really with similar characteristics.”
Not the first time Hamilton at odds with Mercedes’ game plan
Hamilton has already publicly called out his team before. Following the disappointment of his redemption season in 2022, Hamilton had given his engineers notes on where the car can improve. To his dismay, they were ignored.
Infuriated, Hamilton had gone on the record asking Mercedes to own up to their mistakes. Explaining why they should’ve paid heed to him, he stated, “I told them the issues that are with the car. Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”
Having had his advice stowed away, and then being given yet another underperforming car in 2023, Hamilton held his team responsible. “It’s about owning up and saying ‘yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’.”
However, it seems like, once again, Hamilton was kept out of the loop with their latest innovation. While this time, it may have worked out, only time will tell if the results of the Spanish GP can be replicated by the Brackley outfit.
