Hamilton Shares Honest Verdict On W15 After First Test: 'Clearly Made Improvement'

Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 21:00

Lewis Hamilton shared his verdict on Mercedes's 2024 challenger - W15, after his first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

After waiting out the first day (Wednesday) of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the Thursday belonged to Lewis Hamilton, who completed 123 laps behind the wheel of his Mercedes.

The seven-time World Champion apparently avoided the media after the end of the afternoon session. However, Mercedes shared his thoughts following the first day of testing on their website.

"It was a productive day out there. We gathered lots of learnings about the W15, both in our long-running and single-lap work. We've clearly made an improvement with this year's car, and it's much nicer to drive."

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Hamilton encountered a small problem during the morning session when he ran over a loose drain cover. It wasn't clear whether his W15 sustained any damage, but he could continue where he left off during the afternoon session.

"A big thank you to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth for the efforts they've put in to deliver that over the past year. I'm really grateful for all their hard work."

The seven-time World Champion put in a lap 1:31.066 on a fresh set of C3 Medium compound tires. This lap time put him in third place on the leaderboards after the full day of testing.

"We've still got progress to make of course. But this is a good foundation for us to build on."

It seems like Mercedes is in a much better place than it was last year at this time. However, so are all other teams, including the reigning world champions- Red Bull Racing. The 39-year-old added his team still needs to work on improvements.

"We'll keep our heads down and continue to work to find improvements, both over the rest of the test and into next week. I'm looking forward to being back in the car tomorrow morning and continuing that learning."