Last Updated on March 22 2024, 3:34 pm
Lewis Hamilton looked as despondent as he has in his seventeen year log career in Formula One. The Mercedes star driver claimed he felt “the least confident” he has with Mercedes’ W15 finished just 18th quickest on what he described as “one of the worst sessions for a long time” in Melbourne.
Lewis looked equally poor in both the qualifying simulation runs as well as in the race pace runs he completed. He complained over the pit lane radio that he “felt something wrong” with his W15 Mercedes car.
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By way of contrast George Russell finished practice one in third place just 0.033 seconds behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who topped the time sheets in the warmth Victoria afternoon sunshine.
In the next session, Russell fell away from the front runners dropping to almost two thirds of a second slower than Leclerc who again was quickest.
Hamilton had been running an alternative rear wing again as he did in Jeddah before qualifying, yet his best efforts was a whopping 1.557 seconds slower than the leading Ferrari.
Mercedes were criticised this week by F1 designer Gary Anderson who claims they are looking in the wrong place for performance and are “fooling themselves.”
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Hamilton “doesn’t understand” what the car needs
Anderson also criticised Lewis Hamilton for his persistent public interventions where he claims the Mercedes engineers are not designing the car he has asked for.
“He [Lewis] seems to be of the frame of mind that if Mercedes make their car look like a Red Bull it will go as fast as one – it will not. The W15 needs a lot more work than the visual concept but the worry is that they still do not understand what a ground-effect car needs,” adds Anderson.
“The fact that again, as in 2022, both drivers have diverged in their set-ups as the weekend [in Jeddah] went on is not a good sign.”
Speaking on Sky F1 following FP1/2 in Australia, Karen Chandhok ex-Lotus F1 driver commented on Hamilton’s body language: “He looked pretty despondent didn’t he?” Chandhok said.
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“It made me think of a comment George Russell made after Jeddah. Two weekends in a row, they seem to have started the weekend well and then progressively got less competitive, George felt at least, as the weekend unfolded.”
Chandhok noted today may even be a worse start to an F1 weekend for Mercedes than the last twice out in the middle east.
“On this occasion with Lewis it seems like they’ve started on the back foot today. But they’ll have the race support team running the simulator between now and the start of FP3 trying a whole load of set-up options,” said the Indian racer.
“They’ll have information from George’s car. But it’s going to be a challenge. Looking at the long run pace and the McLaren long run looked really strong. We expect Ferrari and Red Bull to be there.
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Lighter fuel on Friday for Mercedes
“So all of a sudden, they are now looking at between seventh and 10th. Lewis was 18th today! I don’t think it’s going to be 18th when it comes to qualifying, but it’s going to be a tough weekend to get out of this.”
Gary Anderson believes Mercedes are starting their F1 weekend practice sessions running a litter fuel amount than their competition. This is designed to give the drivers ‘confidence’ going into the five track sessions ahead. This approach is clearly not working and Anderson calls on Mercedes to change their approach.
“Two races in and their performances suggest they are still suffering from an inability to overcome its limitations. It feels like a repeat of 2022 and 2023.
“The team need to be realistic about their car and must wake up to the reality that they have a problem.
Mercedes “fooling themselves”
“In some ways they are still fooling themselves and this goes down to how they approach the weekend. Throughout Bahrain and Saudi Arabia they have looked competitive in the early practice sessions before dropping back.”
Sky Pundit Naomi Schiff believes this approach is having the reverse effect on the Mercedes drivers and in fact draining their confidence as the weekend progresses
“Bahrain and Saudi they had the same issues on the Friday where they were really complaining. Particularly Lewis where he’s not happy with the set-up of the car, a lot of instability on the rear, fighting where they are going to place the ride height to give him a more comfortable ride,” she said.
“The problem is they are going into Saturday unconfident with where they are going. They are making a call last-minute on the set-up and unfortunately it seems it is costing them in qualifying and they are therefore having to work their way back up on a Sunday.
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“It is something they are going to have to work around and try to find a way to have Lewis more comfortable in the car.”
Mercedes track side engineer Andrew Shovlin admitted the team had been trying big changes in setup in order to find the sweet spot in which the car will run.
“Lewis felt that we had gone in the wrong direction with our changes,” he said. “Frustratingly, they weren’t quick to unwind so he had to live with that throughout the session.
“George found the car a bit trickier in the windier conditions of FP2 compared to earlier in the day. We could have ended a bit higher up the time sheets had he not had a bit of damage. Overall though, it’s clear that we’ve got work to do overnight to improve the car.”
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Russell more upbeat
George Russell appeared to be more upbeat about the W15 when compared to his seven time champion team mate.
“We’re pushing the limits” grinned Russell to assembled media. “There were a few little odd moments out there, but all under control in the end.”
“It seems pretty tight out there in the first session I think it was like two tenths splitting ten cars. FP2 was slightly more spread out.”
“I was on course for a good lap and just had a small problem in the last two corners, but this year with the softer tyres I think its going to be more difficult in the race.”
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Australia may not be one stop race
Russell refers to last years one stop race and is suggesting the strategy this season now Pirelli have brought less conservative tyres, should be more interesting.
Yet George is not overoptimistic and when asked about Hamilton’s best qualifying position comment of P5, he agreed: “Yeah, I’d say that’s a fair assessment.
“I think if we really pull everything together, then the third row, probably between P5 and P8, I think is what we’ve been looking at the moment.”
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Susie Wolff, a prominent figure in motorsport, has launched legal proceedings against the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in a recent development. The case has attracted considerable attention, not least because it is backed by her husband, Toto Wolff, the team principal of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
At the end of the 2023 Formula One season, the world of motorsport was engulfed in controversy and speculation after the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced an investigation into Susie Wolff, a prominent figure in the sport, over allegations of a conflict of interest…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Since Bin Suleman was elected,it was glaringly that Hamilton was/is has issues in this regards.Its seems that Hamilton prefers a whitey instead of an Arab to be in charge.In short cry baby Hamilton is an Islamophobic.