One of the great disappointments of the season at the start of Formula 1 2023, was the performance of Mercedes unable even to compete with the injured Lance Stroll and his Aston Martin, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, for which there is great disappointment in the team, to such an extent that Toto Wolff gave up and assured that his car can go straight to the trash. Lewis Hamilton later indicated that the team had ignored him when designing the 2023 model.
Prior to the Arabian Grand Prix, no major improvements are expected in the German teamwhich was surpassed by almost a minute by Max Verstappen’s RB19 and recalled the disappointment of seeing the W14 for the first time, as it looked very different from Red Bull and Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to see the new Mercedes car
Unlike these teams, the Mercedes W14 has very small sidepods, which do not give performance to compete for the podium, for which a new design is expected at some point in the season, so Mercedes engineers have a lot of work to do.
“I knew we weren’t in the right place. When I first saw the car, it still looked very different from our competitors. It’s always stressful at that time, although it looked good, I don’t care what color it is as long as it’s fast, and hopefully we’ll mold it into a winning car at some point.” said the British pilot, according to racingnews.
Hamilton will not leave Mercedes despite the regrets
As happened in the 2022 season, Hamilton hopes that the team can correct the path and can deliver a competitive car considered the experience of the same team, and incidentally he dismissed any rumors that place him outside of Mercedes.
“You don’t suddenly lose the ability to build great cars, it’s just that we’re not where we need to be and where we want to be. I still believe 100% in this team. It’s my family and I’ve been here a long time so I don’t plan on going anywhere else but we all need a kick, we all need to keep going.”indicated.
Mercedes finished third in the constructors’ championship in 2022 and in 2023 he fights to endorse that third place with Aston Martin, a team that uses the same engine and that found a way to build a competitive car.
