F1 News: Lewis Hamilton demands Mercedes FIX after years of issues

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Bahrain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Hamilton demands Mercedes FIX after years of issues

Lewis Hamilton has had enough of his Mercedes car porpoising

Originally written by Shay Rogers. This version is a translation.

Saturday 9 March 2024 17:00

Lewis Hamilton is demanding that Mercedes get on top of one key issue which has plagued their pace for three seasons.

The Brit qualified in eighth place for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after struggling with the balance of his W15 all weekend.

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He has lagged behind team-mate George Russell recently and is probably already looking forwards to his headline move to Ferrari next season.

But there are 23 grands prix for him to participate in before then, and a two-year win drought that he would like to end before he waves goodbye to the Silver Arrows.

Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025

The Mercedes W15 still has inherent issues

George Russell has been impressive in 2024

Hamilton: We've got to fix it

“We've tried every set-up change. We can't get rid of it,” he said. “It's difficult to explain. We had some bouncing in Bahrain but nowhere near as intense as here.

“If you imagine when the car goes up and down at the back, your balance shifts forwards and rearwards.

“If you are doing that at 160 or 170mph, correcting that each time...the others like Max are flat through six, seven and eight and the balance is just stable. That's what we are working towards.

“We've got to fix it. It's three years in a row. We've got to get on top of it.”

It’s hard to imagine Mercedes anywhere near the podium, let alone contending for race victories currently – something which will cause pressure to mount at the Brackley outfit.

It comes after Hamilton revealed engineers decided to ignore his advice last year when discussing problems with the W14 and how to tackle them in the future.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes George Russell Saudi Arabian Grand Prix