Mercedes has shown immense progress in 2023. But still, they are far from Red Bull and wouldn’t be thinking of snatching the title away from them this year. Thus, despite the impressive growth Lewis Hamilton wants his teammate to deviate from 2023 a bit to focus on bigger targets.
With Red Bull having a huge gap against the next best teams, Mercedes and Aston Martin, they wouldn’t be thinking of radically improving the car and can realistically seal the championship with this wave.
Therefore, giving them ample time to work on the car for 2024 to prolong their dominance next year. Hamilton detecting that shift of priorities, wants his team to do the needful and derail Red Bull’s momentum.
Lewis Hamilton wants Mercedes to work on 2024
The seven-time world champion understands the importance of continuing the 2023 progress. However, he wants his team to start working on the next season’s car, as he speculates that Red Bull is already on it.
“We were also fourth in Monaco, so we are definitely getting close. And it’s going to be a developmental battle, I guess, for the rest of the season. I think Max [Verstappen]’s team is already working on next year’s car, so we need to deviate a bit and focus on next year as well,” said Hamilton to FoxSports.
This is not the first time that Hamilton has been speculating about it. Even Matt Baker revealed that the Mercedes star iterated the same concern after the Spanish Grand Prix. But as of now, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has his hopes on Silverstone.
The British Grand Prix win
Red Bull is still undefeated this season, with only Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez securing all the wins this season so far. However, when Wolff was asked to name a race where his team could win this season, he named Silverstone.
Surely, Mercedes would get huge support there as they have two Brit drivers in their lineup. But the Austrian also reveals that the Silver Arrows will implement upgrades then.
So far, Mercedes has made a massive transformation to the car. They even disposed of the ‘failed’ no sidepod concept. But reacting to changes in the car, Hamilton claims that the new version of the W14 feels the same to the Brit, except it has increased downforce.
