Mercedes had a mixed weekend at the recently concluded Hungarian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton clinched his first pole position since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, he failed to beat Max Verstappen during the main race as he lost his lead right at turn 1 of the first lap. The British driver finished P4 behind the Red Bulls and Lando Norris of McLaren.
While Lewis Hamilton had a field day at the qualifying session, his teammate, George Russell, crashed out in Q2. However, the 25-year-old gained massive places during the race on Sunday as he finished P6. Overall, Mercedes had an unpredictable weekend. While Hamilton secured gains, Russell’s W14 looked much slower. Well, team principal Toto Wolff has an explanation for the underwhelming weekend or perhaps the poor season so far.
Toto Wolff Reveals The Major Problem Of W14 Prominently Faced By Drivers
Mercedes seemed to have learned nothing from last season’s debacle. The team surprisingly stuck to the same car concept while developing W14, which has unsurprisingly shown the same set of problems. Since the beginning of the 2023 season, the car has lacked pace. The Silver Arrows has struggled to keep up with the Red Bulls throughout the season. On top of that, McLaren has now edged past with the latest upgrades. Hence, the competition is just piling up with each race weekend. On the contrary, Mercedes’ upgrades are not working in their favor at all. After another underwhelming weekend, team principal Toto Wolff came forward with a viable explanation.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff gave his honest reaction to the team’s underperformance this season. He said that the major problem the drivers are facing this year is not the lack of downforce but the car’s overall unpredictability. Further, Wolff addressed the problematic balance of the machinery. He said that due to the uneven balance, the drivers are not particularly gaining any confidence to push the car to the limits during qualifying. Hence, the engineer’s main focus is to fix that balance and make the car predictable for the drivers so that they can regain the lost confidence. Having said that, another set of upgrades is coming up for the Silver Arrows in the coming week. It would be interesting to see how the car behaves in the next few races.
Lewis Hamilton Wants Mercedes To Follow Red Bull’s Footsteps
Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton has been vocal about W14’s limitations. He has repeatedly urged the team to follow a certain direction. However, the Silver Arrows has had a different perspective as they repeatedly ignored the seven-time world champion’s feedback. Meanwhile, after losing out on a podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton once again advised the team to follow in Red Bull’s footsteps.
During the post-race interview, Lewis Hamilton said that the car’s wing is not the problem for the lack of downforce as they have a wider wing than Red Bull. The Red Bulls are generating downforce from the floor. That’s where Mercedes needs to focus. Hamilton wants Silver Arrows to get in that direction either this year or next year. According to the British driver, that’s the optimum way to catch up to Red Bulls in the future.