Sir Lewis Hamilton had the worst start to a season with the Mercedes W15 car. He has been winless since 2022. Hence, W13 and W14 were not very helpful for the seven-time champion either. But in 2024, he has found it difficult to finish among the top five after a Grand Prix so far. Red Bull and Ferrari have dominated the first four races in 2024. It has been mostly the Austrian outfit finishing at the top of the podium, but the Maranello team has been way faster than the German outfit. Clearly, the problem lies within the Mercedes team engineers, who have not figured out the car yet.
But it is looking really bad for Lewis Hamilton, who wanted to finish his Mercedes journey on a happy note. He wanted to win a few more races with the Silver Arrows before he moved to the Prancing Horse. However, the W15 car does not look like it’s improving as the F1 teams are looking to make a mark in China. However, Toto Wolff is not willing to lose his optimism despite Hamilton’s negative reviews.
Lewis Hamilton Told His Race Engineer Bono, “The Car’s Really Bad, Mate”
The F1 teams are experiencing the first sprint weekend of the season. It means for the Chinese Grand Prix, they will have only one practice session. That does not sound too good for the drivers as they are racing in Shanghai for the first time since 2019. During the FP1 session in Shanghai, Lewis Hamilton finished at P18. He was almost two and a half seconds slower than the pace-setter Lance Stroll. After the session, Hamilton seemed to scratch his head, claiming that the car was “Really bad.” He could not extract the maximum performance out of the Mercedes W15 car. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton did not seem to get hold of his W15 car.
📻 | Lewis Hamilton: “Yea the car’s really bad, mate.”
— deni (@fiagirly) April 19, 2024
📻 | Bono: “Copy Lewis we’re seeing a lot of that. We’ll get some data on consecutives.”
During the practice session, Hamilton told his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, “Yes, the W15’s really bad, mate.” The viewers could hear Hamilton expressing his frustration on his team radio, loud and clear. Later, Bono replied, “Copy that, Lewis, we are seeing that a lot too.” In addition, Bono mentioned that the team would get as much data as possible on consecutives. Nonetheless, the seven-time champion agreed with Toto Wolff that the team is gradually getting a better understanding of the car. Heading into the qualifying and final race day in Shanghai, Mercedes will try to utilize the data they have on the car to extract the maximum performance.
The Seven-time Champion Said Mercedes Brought No Upgrades To W15 In China
Recently, in an interview with Sky Sports, Hamilton mentioned it will be the same car this weekend as they have not changed anything while coming to China. But they do have a better understanding of the car. Looking at the previous weekend, Lewis Hamilton mentioned they have made improvements for sure. Hence, what they will be bringing to China is some of those learnings and adding to that, some new direction into this weekend.
Moreover, Lewis Hamilton talked about the benefits of experience and hindsight. He mentioned if they could go back, they would have done things differently. Moreover, Hamilton hinted at Mercedes trying to find some changes they can implement this weekend. Finally, the hope is to find some performance in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Stay tuned to Sports News International for more such updates about your favorite F1 team.