The seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton shared his hopes as he discussed Mercedes's upgrades for the 2024 United States Grand Prix in Austin.
At the time of posting this article, only ten days remain until the first practice session at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin on October 18th.
With six race weekends to go until the end of the season, Mercedes F1 team plans to introduce a big upgrade, hoping to catch up with their rivals and fight for podiums and race wins again.
The four Grand Prix weekends between the summer and autumn break have been tough for Mercedes, as their drivers only scored one podium, which was significantly below expectations that the German team set directly before the summer break (3 wins in 4 races).
Speaking to the media after the Singapore Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton previewed the following race in the United States and said:
"Hopefully our upgrades work. I know the team are working incredibly hard to bring these upgrades."
"Over the last three years, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Sometimes it doesn't correlate perfectly to the wind tunnel and CFD."
"I'm really hoping, fingers crossed, that we add it and it really works. Last year, we brought an upgrade there, and it was great. So I'm kind of praying that it does."
Hamilton's average finishing position for the last four races was P7, so the 39-year-old will be hoping for a significant improvement in the car.
On the positive side, the seven-time World Champion took a penalty for a completely new power unit in Azerbaijan, which means he doesn't have to worry about engine issues for the remainder of the season and can focus purely on performance.
Hamilton left Austin with mixed feelings last year as he almost won the race and finished less than 3 seconds behind Max Verstappen but was ultimately disqualified due to high wear on the plank located on the bottom of his car. He added:
"It's a good track. It's one of the best circuits for racing. I'm looking forward to going there and well, at least I have a fresh engine there."