Mercedes chief admits Lewis Hamilton success era WORE DOWN own team

Mercedes

Mercedes chief admits Hamilton success era WORE DOWN own team

Mercedes won eight successive constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Friday 30 June 2023 07:57

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Williams team principal and former senior race strategy engineer at Mercedes James Vowles has revealed that winning eight consecutive constructors' championships 'wore the team down', after he praised Lewis Hamilton's role in the Silver Arrow's historic achievement.

From 2014 to 2021, Mercedes went on to win every constructors' title in a dominant era for the team.

More often than not spearheaded by Hamilton, the seven-time world champion is widely regarded as one of the very best to every grace the sport.

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And Vowles, who worked with the likes of Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, as well as Hamilton, believes that the 38-year-old stood out from the rest.

'Hamilton was never satisfied'

"As with all humans, no two are the same," he told the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast when asked which driver he had worked with had the strongest all-round package. "They're very different in characteristics. The one that impressed me year-on-year is Lewis, because he can pick himself up and literally change a lot about himself.

"It doesn't matter if it's training hard, or changing your diet, or changing how you're doing things psychologically. He would adapt every year and grow because he knew if you stayed the same, you wouldn't be successful the following year.

"He wasn't satisfied with being seven-time world champion. It's not a numbers game with him. He's personally pushing himself more and more to the limit, but that culture is the reason why Mercedes went on to win eight [championship titles]."

'It just keeps wearing you down'

Yet Vowles went on to admit that the relentless drive to succeed at Mercedes meant that winning eight successive constructors' titles came at a cost, after he revealed that the results took its toll on the team.

"It's really hard to win eight," he added. "You have to keep everyone aligned with the direction of travel you're going in and it's tiring. You've got to maintain a level of operation that is just incredibly high.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were team-mates for five of Mercedes' eight constructors' championships

"There can't be a second of letdown in order to keep going. It wears you down more and more. You don't reset, it just keeps wearing you down. You can't celebrate the now. You can't celebrate the success you have, because if you do, you fall behind.

"It's tremendously difficult but Lewis emanates that all the time. If you look at what he is, he's never the same individual when he comes back. I learned a tremendous amount from him, but all of them have something really special to them. That's why they're world champions."