Lewis Hamilton has had quite a difficult end to the 2023 season, with extremely sub-par finishes in the last three races. Following the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton revealed how satisfied he felt to have somehow survived the season with the W14.
After a disappointing P9 finish in the season finale, Hamilton said, “It’s not been a great year in general, so there’s not a lot to take from the year in general. The fact that I survived it, probably that’s about it.”
#AbuDhabiGP | Lewis Hamilton post-race: “It’s not been a great year in general, so there’s not a lot to take from the year in general. The fact that I survived it, probably that’s about it.”
— deni (@fiagirly) November 26, 2023
The last three races of the season saw Hamilton finish in P8, P7, and P9 respectively. The results prove that he was clearly struggling to find pace in the W14. However, a few exceptional results towards the middle of the season meant that Hamilton managed to finish the season P3 in the Driver’s Championship.
Hamilton’s last race win came all the way back in 2021 at the Qatar GP, and it has been two years since then that he has not finished on the top step of the podium. Ever since the new regulations came into play in 2022, Mercedes have struggled to optimize their car.
The Silver Arrows started 2023 with a brand new zero-side pod design, hoping that it would end all their woes. However, the innovative design did not seem to work as expected, and hence by mid-season, the team decided to redesign the car to try and fix things. Moreover, heading into the Abu Dhabi GP, Hamilton had claimed that the car was more inconsistent than it had ever been.
Lewis Hamilton isn’t too excited about the 2024 Mercedes car
Lewis Hamilton had made it very clear towards the end of the season that he was desperate to part ways with the W14. He wanted to move on to 2024 as soon as possible and try out the next car in the series. However, as of now, the seven-time world champion isn’t really excited about that either.
#AbuDhabiGP | Lewis Hamilton: “I really don’t know [what to expect of the W15]. The car [W14] was the same as last year for me, so…”
— deni (@fiagirly) November 26, 2023
As reported by Motorsportweek, Hamilton claimed that this year’s W14 was quite similar to last year’s car. Therefore, he isn’t really too optimistic about next year’s car. He said, “I really don’t know [what to expect of Mercedes’ 2024 challenger]. The car [W14] was the same as last year for me, so…”
Despite their struggles in 2023, Mercedes somehow managed to hold on to second place in the Constructors’ Championship. However, this would mean that they will get even lesser time to work on the wind tunnel. Whether it will hamper the development of their 2024 car or not, it remains to be seen.
