In a frustrated Abu Dhabi Grand Prix decision, Lewis Hamilton puts pressure on Mercedes F1 employees.
Following his ninth-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 posed three questions to Lewis Hamilton, and the driver responded to each one with a dejected expression.
In response to his somber reaction to his damp squib of a final race of 2023, Lewis Hamilton put further pressure on his Mercedes team to produce a championship-winning vehicle in 2024.
Over the years, Hamilton has experienced some of his greatest victories at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, it has also brought him some of his darkest hours.
It wasn’t Hamilton’s worst day at the Yas Marina Circuit, even if he finished ninth on Sunday. But when he spoke in the media pen, he was definitely not in the best of moods.
He has been looking forward to this race’s conclusion for weeks because it means he won’t have to operate the W14 ever again. However, in response to the question of whether there was a reason to smile, he said, “Not particularly.”
When asked if there was anything he could learn from this season to help him in the future, he likewise responded with a dejected expression. “Not too much, really,” he remarked. There’s not much to learn from the year because it hasn’t been fantastic overall. The fact I made it through it? I think that’s pretty much all.
Max Verstappen easily won the race in Abu Dhabi, and George Russell and Charles Leclerc finished with him on the podium. After a five-second time penalty, Sergio Perez, who had been second on the road, finished fourth overall.
Red Bull has won all but one of the 22 races this year, while Verstappen recorded his 19th victory of a record-breaking season. And that’s even after they’ve spent the last few months concentrating all of their automobile development efforts on their 2024 machine.
That was mentioned by Hamilton when he was questioned about his expectations for 2024. He has previously stated that in order to close the deficit before the new season begins, the team will need to advance more quickly than before.
And he piled further pressure on his colleagues to deliver a car in which he and team-mate Russell will be able to take the fight to Verstappen and Red Bull. He said: “At this moment I don’t really know. For Red Bull to win by 17 seconds in the end when they haven’t even developed their car since August is definitely a concern.
“But we’ve learned a lot about the car and it’s just down to the team now. They know what they need to do – whether or not they get there, we’ll see.”
