Toto Wolff recently made a shocking revelation that cost Lewis Hamilton a shot at the championship. The engineers from Brackley trusted inaccurate data to develop their car in the wrong direction. The Silver Arrows have confirmed that they recognized the wrong move and will take steps to undo that and go the right way.
As per Auto Motor Und Sport, Wolff shared that they worked on incorrect data received from the simulator. Despite the struggle last year, the win in Brazil gave them hope and that was all for the team to move on in the wrong direction.
The Mercedes W14 will change its design after incorrect data in simulations led the team to stick to their unusual concept. Team Principal Toto Wolff confirmed the change but did not provide an exact date.
“Even if we take a step back with the new direction, two steps forward… https://t.co/FYqNCRZO9C pic.twitter.com/1J2RpiZZcl
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) March 18, 2023
After bringing in the unusual and radical zero-side pod concept, the team continued working on it. They believed that it would be possible to improve the car and give Hamilton a chance to be Championship-worthy again. But the Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabian qualification were all to ruin their hopes.
Hamilton, who was in the hunt for his eighth world championship suffered to a great extent as W13 and W14 kept giving him hard times. Now, the team has decided to get done with the radical concept.
The Mercedes boss confirmed a change on this to make the car competitive again. But he did not reveal the exact date.
Lewis Hamilton shared his struggle story with W14
For back-to-back two-race weekends, Hamilton hasn’t been at his habitual best. The man who expected to fight for the championship with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, finding it tough to settle down with W14.
Lewis Hamilton says he can’t get confident in the W14, after ending up 0.366 seconds behind Russell in Qualifying.
“I just struggled to extract the performance,” said Hamilton.
“The car is where it is. I mean, George did a great job, he’s right up there on the second row. So… https://t.co/OXMGmU0rVj
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) March 18, 2023
As per RaceFans, the seven-time world champion struggled to extract performance from the Silver Arrows challenger. Saying he can’t connect to the car, Hamilton suffers from a lack of confidence. His qualifying performance in Bahrain and Jeddah has been a stern example of that.
Mercedes remained the fourth-best team despite efforts
In the back-to-back race weekends, the Silver Arrows remained the fourth-best team. The team from Brackley is currently behind Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin when it comes to pure pace.
In Bahrain, the two W14s qualified in P6 and P7, while they finished the race in P5 and P7, [thanks to Charles Leclerc’s DNF]. In Jeddah, the Mercedes duo managed to settle for P4 and P8 in the qualification. In all of these outings, the Silver Arrows were behind the aforementioned teams.
