Lewis Hamilton brands 2024 start as “worst ever” in his F1 career

Lewis Hamilton came away with a DNF from the 2024 Australian GP.

Lewis Hamilton brands 2024 start as “worst ever” in his F1 career

Lewis Hamilton (via imago)

Mercedes, pleased and assured of their new challenger W15, had anticipated a stronger start to the 2024 season. However, it proved that their guesses were off the mark after the Bahrain GP evaluations. During preseason testing, Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were also pleased with the car’s performance.

Things took a turn for worse for the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, as he had to retire his car from the Australian GP because of an engine issue. At the start of the weekend, the Brit was hopeful as the team was putting all the efforts into solving the fundamental issue with the W15, but as of now team is falling behind its rivals.

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Mercedes came away from the Australian GP weekend with zero points. 

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This is the worst season start of the season I've ever had. Oh yeah, for sure. And it's worse than 2009, I think.
Lewis Hamilton said in an interview with motorsport.com

Despite the poor results, Hamilton is trying to have a positive outlook on things, but that might fade away soon if Mercedes fail to deliver a solid machinery. It has been weeks since Mercedes has been trying to understand and figure out the issues with its car.

Lewis Hamilton is frustrated with the performance output of the W15  

The Australian weekend proved to be a tough three-day outing for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. The car that looked very promising during the preseason testing, has now turned into a nightmare. Mercedes has struggled with building a better-performing car since the dawn of the current regulations in 2022.

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

For Hamilton, this year personally means a lot as it’s his last season with the Brackley-based outfit.

The inconsistency in the car really messes with the mind. There is a long list of things to fix. Our car is on a knife-edge. In the afternoon the wind picks up and the car becomes unstable, but the others can pick their pace up in qualifying and I am not sure why. It didn’t feel the same in qualifying from practice even though we had lighter fuel. It is not a great feeling for everyone in the team but we will keep working away.
Lewis Hamilton said in an interview with thegaurdian

Mercedes will have to pull their socks up and put in the work to do whatever it takes to fix this year’s challenger. The drivers are frustrated and the team is also going through a tough time. The Brackley-based team is currently in fourth place in the 2024 Constructors Championship with only 26 points to its name.

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