The start of the 2023 season has been extremely difficult for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. In terms of performance, they were the third-best car for the majority of the previous campaign, but this time, they are fourth in the pecking order after the opening race.
Aston Martin has made huge strides over the winter break, which has allowed them to outperform the Mercedes cars in Bahrain, and if the Silverstone-based outfit keeps it up, they could be in the mix for a P2 finish in the constructors’ championship.
When the 2022 season ended, Hamilton admitted that he was relieved at the thought of never having to drive the W13 again in his life. However, this was before he found out that the W14 was also not going to allow him to compete for race wins or podiums on a competitive basis.
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Lewis Hamilton set to get a massive performance boost in upcoming races?
According to recent reports, Mercedes are set to sacrifice performance in the opening few races of the 2023 season, just so that they can get better. The current car that we see out on the track is a ‘prototype’ and is a mixture of the W13 and this year’s car.
#F1: It’s now being reported that the current W14 is a hybrid between the W13 and the project that will be brought to the track at the end of April.
The current car is a W14 prototype, mechanically corrected, with no porpoising bottoming and no drag. 🧵
— deni (@fiagirly) March 6, 2023
When the upgrades start to kick in, the W14 is expected to perform much better. The car that Hamilton and George Russell drove in Bahrain last Sunday, was a ‘mechanically corrected’ car, that had no drag and no porpoising.
Hamilton will be hoping that the upgrades provide his team with the much needed boost that will help them challenge the frontrunners.
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Time running out for Hamilton?
Hamilton is currently 38 years old, and even though he is showing no interest in retiring soon, his days in the sport are numbered. The Stevenage-born driver has broken just about every record possible in F1, except becoming the driver with the most number of world titles.
Currently, he is tied with Michael Schumacher at the top, with seven-world championships, but is desperate to win his eighth, before calling time on his illustrious career.
It was also necessary to evaluate the reliability side efficiency on the PU in order to guarantee the use of more pushed mappings in the race.
This amount of work has resulted in sacrifices for the need to acquire concrete data on which to base the development and updates.
— deni (@fiagirly) March 6, 2023
Multiple F1 personalities, including former Red Bull driver Mark Webber feel that, Mercedes have to work incredibly hard to provide Hamilton with an opportunity to fight for title number eight, or else, the Briton may reconsider his future away from the Brackley-based outfit.
