Lewis Hamilton acknowledges having “big, big talks” with Mercedes as his anger with Formula 1 grows.
With no victories and a Mercedes car that his team hasn’t been able to turn into a contender, Lewis Hamilton has had one of the most difficult seasons of his Formula One career.
Lewis Hamilton, a driver for Mercedes F1 in the Brazilian Grand Prix paddock
This season, Lewis Hamilton has been transparent about his displeasure with Mercedes.
At the beginning of this year, Lewis Hamilton had “big, big talks” with Mercedes because the team had no idea how to make their awful vehicles better.
Mercedes debuted a W14 that uncannily resembled its predecessor at the start of the season. The group remained committed to its “zeropod” idea, certain that it would be able to realize its full pace potential.
But all it took for them to give up on it was one race. Toto Wolff, the team principal, acknowledged after the Bahrain Grand Prix that his team needed a complete overhaul if they were to succeed this season.
Furthermore, Hamilton claims that he was aware that things would not go well much sooner. He told the BBC that, “I remember it feeling exactly the same,” regarding his thoughts on the W14 following its shakedown session at Silverstone in February.
“It was undoubtedly a bad feeling. I was rather optimistic. 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’.
“The first test is then administered… As a result, I listened with a little bit more caution and thought, “We shall see.” The automobile then developed all of these issues. I had a gut feeling that the year would be difficult.”
When the first race in Bahrain rolled around a few weeks later, all of his worst nightmares materialized. In the wake of that weekend, he attacked his Mercedes crew, saying they had disregarded his advice on the vehicle, and he has since reaffirmed that belief.
Hamilton went on to say, “I’m sure there were frustrations, because I had asked for certain changes, and they weren’t done,” alluding to his “big, big talks” with the team. No-one knew exactly what the problem was – no-one knew how to fix it.
“With the knowledge from the previous year, I simply put in the effort to dig in and sit with the men. Our meetings were going considerably better. Throughout the year, I was able to maintain a lot more optimism and say things like, “Let’s not give up; it’s going to be a long season.” Whatever the maximum is that we can extract from the car, let’s keep pushing for it.
“I believe that they believed that “the fundamentals are solid and we just have to go here” for this year. Furthermore, that wasn’t true. I was irritated in February because they hadn’t implemented the adjustments I had requested.
“With the knowledge from the previous year, I simply put in the effort to dig in and sit with the men. Our meetings were going considerably better. Throughout the year, I was able to maintain a lot more optimism and say things like, “Let’s not give up; it’s going to be a long season.” Whatever the maximum is that we can extract from the car, let’s keep pushing for it.
“I believe that they believed that “the fundamentals are solid and we just have to go here” for this year. Furthermore, that wasn’t true. I was irritated in February because they hadn’t implemented the adjustments I had requested.
