Sir Lewis Hamilton is eager to find a Grand Prix win this season. It has been a long time since the seven-time champion stood on the top of the podium. He has been really struggling since last year. Moreover, Hamilton never had such a long losing streak. He has been racing in F1 for 16 years. Hamilton has been the only driver to win more than 100 races in F1 history. He has equaled Michael Schumacher’s record number of championships won.
The great Briton came so close to surpassing the German legend in 2021. But he narrowly lost the title to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Anyway, coming back to the current ongoing season, Lewis Hamilton had a number of P2 finishes so far. In the meantime, the Mercedes car is acting differently on different race circuits. Like Lewis Hamilton mentioned, the car felt completely different in Austin from how it feels in Mexico.
Lewis Hamilton Wonders Why W14 Feels Different In Mexico To How It Felt A Week Ago In Austin
After the Friday’s practice, the handling of the W14 car puzzled Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion barely managed a P7 finish in the second session of Friday’s practice in Mexico. He was 0.3 seconds off over the current reigning champion. It sure was a challenging day for the great Briton. Later, Lewis Hamilton reflected on the day in a post-race interview saying the car felt different in Mexico to what it did in Austin. Adding to that, Hamilton said they must understand why the car felt different just after a week. Moreover, the car is definitely not competitive in the long runs. That’s why Mercedes is focusing on different setups.
But Lewis Hamilton is unwilling to lose hope because Mercedes has a good record here in Mexico. However, Hamilton knows the track presents its own challenges. Hence, Hamilton said they are not where they wanted to be ahead of the final day of the Mexican GP. But they’ll try to make necessary changes overnight to make the car feel different. Moreover, Hamilton said the car showed promising speed in Austin. He knows they have a lot of room for improvement. The Mercedes star believes they can get the car to a good place in Mexico, too. But there is no reason to hide the fact that the car is night and day different from what it was a week ago.
Can The Seven-Time Champion Compete For His Eighth Title Next Year?
Unlike the previous year, the seven-time champion has performed better than his teammate George Russell this year. But the question remains: When can Hamilton win again? Most importantly, the fans want to know if he can fight for the title next year. Looking at the Mercedes W14 car, nobody can speak for sure if the W15 will be a championship-winning car. Moreover, the Mercedes team is yet to figure out all the strengths and weaknesses of W14.
On top of that, there are only four races remaining in the ongoing season. Hence, Mercedes does not have much time to understand the current car and start developing the W15 car. But Lewis Hamilton praised the people in the aero department for not losing hope and still working with a lot of enthusiasm. Moreover, Hamilton stated if the engineers can go through the best development process for the next six months, then Mercedes can fight for the title next year.