Hamilton Calls For 'Real Big Chnages' To Mercedes Car For 2024 Season
F1Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 10:00
Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton compared the performance of his Mercedes to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and last season's Mercedes car after the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Mercedes team brought upgrades to their car to the previous sprint race weekend in Austin. These upgrades suited Lewis Hamilton as he achieved a P2 finish in both all three races since then.
He went from P3 to P2 during the sprint race at Circuit of the Americas, and he went again from P3 to P2 on Sunday race at the same circuit but got disqualified after the race.
During the most recent weekend, the seven-time World Champion started from P6 but scored P2 yet again after 71 laps at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The 38-year-old goes through lots of ups and downs with his car. After the qualification on Saturday, he called his car a nightmare to drive. On the other hand, he felt a lot better during the race on Sunday. Hamilton told the media after the race:
It definitely gives us a lot of confidence. I mean, last year, at the same time, we were doing the same thing, but last year, I think we were three-tenths behind Max in qualy – or something like that, and I came second again but he walked off with it.
Hamilton was in a similar situation last year when he finished in P2 behind Verstappen but ahead of Sergio Perez in third place. The seven-time World Champion says there need to be some real big changes done to his car before next year if Mercedes wants to compete for the title.
So, we’re really just mirroring what we did last year. So, we have to make some real big changes for next year. Because obviously, in Bahrain earlier this year, they’re 1.5 seconds a lap faster than us at least.
Red Bull stopped bringing significant upgrades a while ago, making it clear to everybody the team's focus is already on 2024 in terms of car development. This gives other teams a chance to compete in the last three race weekends of the season.
So the key is to make sure that’s not the case in Bahrain, but I think hopefully these next couple of races will be close. But I’d probably put money on it that he’d get to 18, 19, with that car.
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