Hamilton Admits To 'Frustration' After Ignored Suggestions For 'Certain Changes'

Friday, 01 December 2023 at 02:00

With the 2023 F1 season ending with the last race in Abu Dhabi, drivers looked back at the season, and Lewis Hamilton summarized his relationship with Mercedes W14.

With the British driver finishing third in the Drivers' Championship, his expectations for the 2023 season were certainly not met. Hamilton is a seven-time World Champion, and he enters every season only with one goal in his mind.

But with Hamilton's last victory coming at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he would certainly be happy to have a car that could push him to at least once race win in 2023.

Yet, with Red Bull's dominance, it was difficult for anyone to really challenge Max Verstappen, who won 19 out of 22 races. But in a recent interview with BBC, Hamilton admitted that already at the start of the 2023 season, he wasn't really optimistic about his car.

"In February, when we do a download of where the car is going, I was a little more apprehensive, because the previous year it was like: 'The car is amazing, it's unique, no-one's going to have anything like it.' And then we get to the first test…"

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With many problems appearing already during the tests at the Bahrain International Circuit, the 38-year-old knew that the season would be very long, suggesting that he was expecting struggles.

"So, I was a little bit more cautious when I was listening, and I was like: 'We will see.' And then the car had all these problems. I just knew it was going to be a long year."

On top of that, Hamilton seemed to be frustrated during certain parts of the season, and after it was over, he admitted that it was because the team didn't seem to be able to fix some of the problems that the car had.

"I'm sure there were frustrations, because I had asked for certain changes, and they weren't done. No-one knew exactly what the problem was. No-one knew how to fix it."

But the British driver never hesitated and he became invested in the process more than ever before. He has tried to help his team, and even though his help wasn't sufficient to give the team a race win in 2023, he will be hoping that it could lead to potential success next season.

"Having the experience of the previous year, I just applied myself, in terms of digging down, sitting with the guys. We were having much better meetings."