Lewis Hamilton receives HUGE F1 blow as Mercedes' end of season plans revealed

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Hamilton receives HUGE Mercedes blow as end of season plans revealed

Lewis Hamilton has three races remaining with Mercedes

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 17 November 2024 18:57 Updated: 19:39

Lewis Hamilton has received a huge Mercedes blow, as their end of season plans have been unveiled.

The seven-time world champion is set to enter his final three races with Mercedes, after a difficult final season with the team.

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Besides two wins in Silverstone and Spa, Hamilton has often been left frustrated with the performance of his W15, a far cry from their championship-winning prowess from the early hybrid era days.

Despite being set to ditch Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton has maintained his commitment to the team and his desire to go out on a high with the outfit that helped him achieve unprecedented F1 success.

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However, Hamilton may not enjoy the dream send off he pictured in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, with Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin unveiling their new plans for the end of the season.

According to Shovlin, Mercedes’ focus will shift onto next year's car, instead of chasing performance in 2024, a blow to Hamilton's final chances of a podium or even a win.

"The main thing in terms of learning is that the corners that we are weak in are still the same ones. It is the interconnected, slow corners. That is normally where we trip up," Shovlin said in Mercedes' post-Brazil debrief.

"Going into the weekend, we certainly had sector two in Brazil, which has a lot of those corners, on our radar as an area that we might struggle.

Andrew Shovlin reveals new focus for Mercedes ahead of Las Vegas

"The big focus in these remaining races for us is learning what we can. We are in a position in the championship where we cannot challenge in front of us. It is very unlikely we are going to see any challenge from behind.

"Our focus has very much shifted to learning what we need to this year to apply to next year in order to get on top of those issues.”

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Silverstone