Lewis Hamilton reveals why 'no one' at Mercedes is happy amid slump

Lewis Hamilton talking with his engineers in Monte Carlo — Photo: © LAT Images

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Hamilton reveals why 'no one' at Mercedes is happy amid slump

The seven-time world champion will be desperate to improve next year

Tyler Foster

Wednesday 18 October 2023 20:57

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Lewis Hamilton has said he is "massively encouraged" by the level of commitment from the staff at the Mercedes factory as they bid to narrow the gap to Red Bull.

It certainly hasn't been an easy ride for the Mercedes crew following the technical regulation change at the start of the 2022 campaign. Their efforts to find innovative ways of recreating downforce have so far paled in significance compared to the now dominant Red Bull.

Originally, they opted for an unusual 'zero sidepods' chassis with their 2022 W13 car, however this was eventually dropped halfway through 2023.

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Since then, Mercedes have made gradual gains with their current W14 and come close to victory, but have still been unable to beat Red Bull's combination of Verstappen and the RB19.

The zero sidepod W13 was ulitmately a failure for Mercedes

George Russell enjoying his maiden win and Mercedes' most recent victory

Hamilton wants to challenge

The Mercedes team are not used to any form of failure but have only taken one victory in the past two seasons – George Russell maiden’s win at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

For the seven-time champion, he is experiencing his longest victory drought in his entire F1 career, with his last coming at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

In order to change this, they will have to make significant performance gains during the off-season to outdo the efforts of not just Red Bull, but Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin.

It seems that the Mercedes staff are raring to make this happen, with Hamilton feeling inspired by a recent visit to the factory in Brackley.

"The other day, I was in the aero department – it's clear that no one's happy with where we are and how we've done this year,” Hamilton said.

"But it was massively encouraging to see how driven everyone was.

"Everyone's heads were down. Everyone was at their stations and clearly pushing incredibly hard. For me, that was inspiring to see."