Sir Lewis Hamilton is not having a great success with the Mercedes car in recent times. He is going through a winless phase for over a year for the first time in his career. The Mercedes driver has won the most races in F1 history. But for the most decorated F1 racer, it is becoming incredibly hard to get back to winning ways since 2022. Every fan and expert knows that the problem is in the w14 car, and the team won’t start winning until the former champions fix the car. Although Team Mercedes have introduced new upgrades in Monaco. And since then, they got three podiums in Spain and Canada. However, as usual, the Austrian circuit did not provide favourable conditions for Lewis Hamilton and his team.
The W14 car is not yet there to help the team win a race this year. Hence, after the Austrian GP Lewis Hamilton said that he is desperately waiting for fundamental changes of the car, next year, perhaps. It was the second sprint race of the season. But it made no difference in the result as Red Bull and Max Verstappen extended their winning streak. The Milton Keynes team had another double podium in Austria as Sergio Perez finished at P3. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also did well to secure second place.
Lewis Hamilton Teased New Upgrades In Coming Months
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton had a P8 finish and could not even beat his teammate George Russell who had a P7 finish. Although in the post-race interview, Hamilton commented that he is waiting for new upgrades. According to him, it is good to finally feel like driving a race car. He even teased about the development of the car, and how things are going in the right direction. However, the Briton feels that the team is not yet sure where exactly they want to go in terms of the right direction.
The seven-time champion revealed that he has been asking about fundamental changes for more than a year. But the car’s progress is happening at a very slow speed. Hence. they will have to wait till next year to see some success finally. Again, Hamilton brought about the problem of the rear end and its rotations through the corners. His teammate George Russell also announced that Lewis is still struggling with the car. According to him, it was a coincidence that we had podiums in the previous two races. “And the tires we have is not made in our factory. Hence, we just have to deal with the tires we get,” believes the young Briton. Clearly, with so many flaws, Mercedes is not expecting a dramatic turnaround this season. Moreover, it looks like Red Bull will remain undefeated this year.
W14 Is Not Helping Mercedes To Retain Top Spot
Sadly, the losing streak of the seven-time champion keeps on extending. Lewis Hamilton’s last victory came in the Saudi Arabia 2021 Grand Prix. That year, Mercedes won the constructor’s title, but Hamilton could not win the driver’s championship.
Since then, the car has been displaying flaws one after the other. It affected the team badly last year and is still continuing. Albeit Mercedes won a race in Brazil with a one-two finish, the W13 car was worse than the current W14 car. The team struggled with porpoising issues throughout the season. But this year, Mercedes fixed those bouncing problems and a few more issues. However, the car is still not there to display good performance at challenging circuits like in Austria.