F1 news: Mercedes reserve driver identifies KEY reason for Hamilton struggles

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

Mercedes reserve driver identifies KEY reason for Hamilton struggles

The seven-time F1 world champion is without a win in three years

By Stuart Telford.

Wednesday 24 April 2024 03:00

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have struggled in recent seasons, but is it the fault of driver or car?

Hamilton is the joint-record seven-time champion, but he is without a grand prix win since Saudi Arabia in 2021, and hasn't taken the overall drivers' prize since the previous year.

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It has been three seasons of Max Verstappen/Red Bull dominance since, and Hamilton will move to Ferrari in 2025 in an attempt to kickstart his career.

There is some suspicion that Mercedes hasn't necessarily been the problem, though - Hamilton has failed to beat his teammate George Russell this season, driving what is, for all intents and purposes, the same car.

Hamilton said his car was "broken" in China

Vesti doesn't think Hamilton is to blame

Vesti: 'you need to overdrive' Mercedes' car

Mercedes reserve driver Fred Vesti appeared on the Wednesday's edition of the F1 Nation podcast, and made it abundantly clear that the car, not the driver, are to blame.

"By fixing one problem you might introduce another one," said the Dane. "It can happen. I'm not entirely sure that's what's happened but for sure it's a problem with the car and it needs to improve and obviously both the race team and the drivers are chasing that lap time.

"Mistakes like Lewis made in quali [in China] - that happens when the car is not fast enough, cos you need to overdrive, you need to try and squeeze everything out of it to maximise the lap and that can be a problem for a driver."

A host of drivers have been linked with replacing Hamilton at Mercedes, from former champion Sebastian Vettel to the man he will succeed at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz - will they run into the same trouble next year?

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell