Lewis Hamilton is not a fan of “copying” a competitor’s car concept in F1. The seven-time champion gave the example of Aston Martin to express his views clearly according to Motorsport-Total. While giving his take, Hamilton highlighted the challenges a team can face while copying concepts and how it often doesn’t yield the desired results.
The British driver said, “The thing is, with the schedule and the limited resources, that you can’t just throw everything away and start from scratch. You can’t just copy a car and start over.”
“Look at the Astons. They tried to copy a car and it wasn’t the same. It’s not that easy,” said Hamilton.
Ironically, Mercedes tried to do the same in 2023. However, it was only minorly inspired by Red Bull or any other team’s design philosophy. Contrarily, Hamilton points out how Aston Martin’s attempt to imitate the RB19 concept faltered, as the Silverstone team struggled in the latter part of 2023.
After their Canadian GP upgrades, the AMR23 only went backward in pace. They realized they were on the wrong path and did not get any closer to the Milton Keynes team. Naturally, due to Red Bull‘s dominance, any team would want to imitate their success.
Many teams like McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine, and Haas have taken some inspiration from the RB19 concept, and have got varying results. This further solidifies Hamilton’s point on how a good winning car can be built. The 38-year-old said, “You have to try to take the good parts and add other parts through trial and error.”
Lewis Hamilton sets ambitious goals for the Mercedes W15
Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the W15 is “not a replica” of the struggling W14. Mercedes were very unsatisfied with the lack of consistency in their performances in 2023. Hamilton cited that they knew where they were going wrong. However, he claimed that he doesn’t wish to drive a car like W14 going ahead.
While the 38-year-old wishes the 2023 challenger to be binned, he was happy with the car showing some progress. Hamilton highlighted how the car went “forwards” rather than “backward” in terms of performance.
The Briton also highlighted some positive moments such as his surprise pole position in Budapest. Hamilton cited that the team did not think it was possible to achieve such a result in the initial part of the season. The Austrian GP upgrades also gave the Silver Arrows some hope for improving the car.
However, according to Racing News 365, Hamilton is expecting one major change for the W15, which was missing in the W14. He said, “It’s been positive, but it is still not fundamentally a winning car, and that is what we’ve got to change next year.”
Overall, the seven-time champion is not hoping to feel the same way that he felt at the start of 2023 in the W14. Hamilton is optimistic about the 2024 Mercedes challenger and hopes that they won’t drop the ball for a third-year running.
