Lewis Hamilton has expressed his frustrations with Mercedes’ car this season on various occasions. The 38-year-old has not been happy with the team as he believes that they did not listen to his advice. As a result, he believes that the team are nowhere in the picture of winning a championship anytime soon. At the start of the season, the Briton had compared the W14 to a “prettier sister“. Several months after, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has now referred to the car as a “diva“.
At the start of the season, Hamilton had said (as quoted by the Daily Mail), “Now we have wider side pods, a bit towards Red Bull’s, and I can say it wasn’t my decision to go this way. When we put the car on the track for the first time this year, it was almost a copy of last year’s car. Only it didn’t bounce. A bit like a prettier sister, but really with similar characteristics“. Several months later, Wolff now seems to agree with Hamilton’s criticisms of the W14.
Toto Wolff believes W14 is “very sensitive” and like a “diva“
The F1 2023 season is currently at its business end and there are three more sprint weekends still remaining in the calendar. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has recently expressed his worries regarding the sprint weekends and explained how his side struggles during them.
As quoted by formulapassion.it, Wolff said, “The car is still so sensitive and difficult to set up that we need more [testing] sessions to get to grips with it. We were talking about it with Russell. You don’t know how the car will behave when you throw it into a corner. It’s about gaining confidence during these sessions“.
The Austrian then went on to specifically highlight his concerns during sprint race weekends by adding, “Weekends with the sprint are not the best for us, precisely because the car is such a ‘diva’“. The 51-year-old’s remarks do not bode well for Mercedes as three sprint race weekends still remain this year: Qatar, US and Brazil.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is already looking forward to next season. The Briton recently gave an interview where he revealed what Mercedes’ targets should be for the next season.
Lewis Hamilton wants Mercedes to reduce the deficit to Red Bull by 0.5 seconds
Following the conclusion of the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton gave an interview where he explained how Mercedes needs to understand that the gap to Red Bull at the moment is huge. The 38-year-old believes it is unacceptable for the Silver Arrows to be down by a second even after two seasons.
“To be two years in and still be a second down compared to the Red Bulls, it’s showing that we need to make sure that we really do a good job over the winter to get back at least half that gap before next year,” explained the 38-year-old (as quoted by racefans.net). Since Hamilton is just hoping that Mercedes can reduce the deficit to Red Bull, it is fair to say that he does not believe that his side can compete with the Milton Keynes outfit even in the next season.
