Last Updated on November 30 2023, 12:01 pm

Lewis Hamilton is not backward in coming forward and his appraisal of the all new W15 as early as pre-season testing was “its not a great feeling.” There was clearly a significant amount of discussion within the Mercedes team over the direction the successor to the W14 should take with Hamilton at odds with the tech guru’s.

Following a disappointing qualifying in the Bahrain season opener, Toto Wolff appeared to confirm the direction the technical team had taken over the winter was wrong and would need immediate change.

 

 

 

Hamilton writes off 2023 car after one test

“I don’t think this package is going to be competitive eventually,” Wolff said in a remarkable assessment of the W15 still in its infancy

“We gave it our best shot all over the winter, and now we just need to all regroup and sit down with the engineers, who are totally not dogmatic about anything.

“There are no holy cows and we need to decide what is the development direction that we want to pursue, in order to be competitive to win races.”

Clearly there had been some resistance to change the remarkable looking “zero pod” aero styled car as Mike Elliot revealed at the 2023 launch as he explained there was “a lot of goodness” in the original W14 design concept.

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“intense” meeting at Merc after Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton clearly disagreed and George Russell revealed following the Bahrain Grand Prix there was an “intense” meeting back at Brackley where opinions and views were frankly aired.

“We all came together and had some very good, honest, open conversations,” explained Russell to Autosport.

“A lot of the questions were answered as to how we got ourselves in this position in the first place. Plus, what are we going to do in short term, and medium term, to get out of it? What path do we want to be on?”

Whilst Russell did not reveal the specifics of the discussion clearly the technical team under Mike Elliot were being forced to reconsider the very principles underpinning their W14 philosophy.

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Mercedes tech team ‘got it wrong’

“We know a change of concept doesn’t come without risks,” he said. “But I think we all feel like we’ve got enough knowledge and information now to say that we weren’t on the right tracks, and the targets that we set over the winter weren’t the right ones.”

George confirmed the team would now back track as “We need to change lanes as soon as possible. Those decisions have already been made. And we’ve already started working towards them, as of probably Tuesday last week.”

“Do we think we’re on the right track with our philosophy? Probably not either,” the British driver concluded.

Lewis Hamilton was less coded in his remarks and appeared to call for heads to roll in the Mercedes’ technical department.

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Hamilton demanded to be heard

“I’ve driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn’t need. I think it’s really about accountability.”

The Mercedes star driver even appeared to be asking for an apology from certain individuals within Mercedes adding: “It’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? We didn’t listen to you. It’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work.’”

Within weeks Mike Elliot was replaced by the team’s former technical director and then a short time later Elliot decided he was leaving, “to pursue other interests”.

Hamilton received a fair amount of criticism form those who believe the driver cannot tell the team how the highly complex platform of an F1 car should be designed.

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Lewis doubles down on previous claims

Yet Lewis has again this week doubled down on his comments in an interview with the BBC describing his emotions when he first drive the car in pre season testing. 

“I remember it feeling exactly the same. And that definitely was not a great feeling. I really had high hopes,” Hamilton said. “In February, when we do a download of where the car is going, I was a little more apprehensive, because the previous year it was like: ‘The car is amazing, it’s unique, no-one’s going to have anything like it.’ And then we get to the first test…

“So, I was a little bit more cautious when I was listening [to the same talk this year], and I was like: ‘We will see.’ And then the car had all these problems. I just knew it was going to be a long year. I’m sure there were frustrations, because I had asked for certain changes, and they weren’t done.”

Mercedes were hoodwinked into continuing with the W13 design concept due to the vast improvement in the cars performance towards the end of the 2022 season. Russell won the Sprint and the Grand Prix inn Brazil and the team challenged for the win in Mexico and the USA.

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Hardship of 2022 made Lewis stronger

Reflecting on his feelings at the start of this year, Lewis reveals that knowing he was to have a car that would struggle to win races was made easier by his experience of the W13 the previous season.

“Having the experience of the previous year, I just applied myself, in terms of digging down, sitting with the guys. We were having much better meetings,” he added.

“I was able to stay a lot more positive during the year and be like: ‘It’s going to be a long season, but let’s not give up. Let’s keep pushing towards getting the maximum out of the car, whatever that may be.’”

“I think for this year they thought: ‘The fundamentals are good and we just have to go here.’ And it was not the case. That’s why I was frustrated in February, because they hadn’t made the changes I’d asked for,” repeated Hamilton.

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Mercedes cockpit position problematic

Lewis believes the advanced position of the cockpit is problematic and leads to the Mercedes’ drivers struggling to feel connected with the rear of the car. This loss of confidence means they can’t push as hard in the corners which costs them lap time when compared to Red Bull.

Hamilton had a much better year having lost out to his team mate in the 2022 championship. The seven times world champion finished the year with 234 points while Russell fought back from further behind to end on 175 – 54 behind his team mate.

That said in qualifying the tale of the measure reveals something quite different. In 2022 Russell finished ahead of his team mate in the Grand Prix 12-10 but was significantly behind in the qualifying statistics. Here Hamilton finished the season 13-9 ahead of his team mate.

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Lewis v George rivalry hots up 

Whilst in 2023 Lewis re-established himself as the points scoring leader at Mercedes, a late run of form from Russell squared up the qualifying sessions at 11-11 after his P4 start in Abu Dhabi.

The battle between the Mercedes drivers will be one of the fascinating battles to watch next season even if Red Bull are over the horizon once again.

Will the wise seven times world champion have the edge over his young rival, or will Russell hasten in the decision from Lewis Hamilton to retire.

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