‘Start of a new path for us,’ Lewis Hamilton discusses the significance of Mercedes’ ambitious Baku upgrades

As part of their new development cycle, Mercedes will introduce the first of their 'big' upgrades to the W13 in Baku. Lewis Hamilton gave his take on them.

‘Start of a new path for us,’ Lewis Hamilton discusses the significance of Mercedes’ ambitious Baku upgrades

Mercedes' star Lewis Hamilton

It’s safe to say that Mercedes are not where they hoped it would be at this stage of the season. While they’re sitting third, they obviously want to win the title. If not this year, then the next – but that’s always going to be the goal. But the Mercedes W14 is not as competitive as hoped, and now the Silver Arrows are heading a new development direction. This, it is hoped, will give Lewis Hamilton and co. the boost needed to challenge Red Bull better.

2022 was quite a unique situation. It was the first time that he was not in a car consistently capable of fighting for wins. It also turned out to be the winless season of his career. Yet. His teammate, George Russell, however, did win a race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. But still, the car obviously did not match either driver’s standards. Now, with the change in development direction, they could finally get a ‘ competitive’ package in the near future.

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The Silver Arrows’ major upgrade cycle starts in Baku. But it’s hard to say just how much it will improve their machinery. In Thursday’s press conference at the Azerbaijan GP, David Croft asked him where Mercedes can end up with the help of their ‘full upgrade package’. The Briton replied: “I think it will be an upgrade, naturally, but I think it will be the start of a new path for us.”

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The seven-time world champion added: “It will be, at the core, still the same car, but part of the path to getting it to where we want to be, so we’re not going to hit the ground and be where we wanted to be at the start of the season. We’re not making up that crazy ground that there is but I think it’s really positive. So much great work has been done back in the factory to… it takes time to progress in the right direction, so I’m excited for it.”

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Lewis Hamilton: Azerbaijan GP is probably the “most exciting weekend” of 2023 yet

Lewis Hamilton in the 2023 Mercedes W14
Lewis Hamilton in the 2023 Mercedes W14

This weekend, apart from the fact that Mercedes will introduce much-anticipated upgrades, is also significant for another season. In Baku, the new sprint format will be ‘trialed’. This means that there will only be one practice session. There will be two qualifying sessions; one for the feature race and one for the sprint race. As it was before, there will be one sprint race, and one feature race.

Referring to the format changes as a ‘shake-up’, Lewis Hamilton felt Baku is probably the “most exciting weekend so far this year”. When probed on whether he welcomes the changes, the Briton responded: “Absolutely. Yeah, I think it is going to be tough for everybody. But we’re all in the same boat. And you know, what a track to be able to do it at, where overtaking is possible.”

Hamilton feels that “the best races” are mostly in Baku: “It’s great racing here. We always have mostly the best races here.” While he acknowledged the difficulties associated with having a single practice session, he retorted: “And so yeah, it’s definitely difficult to just have one session where you probably get, like, 20 laps, and then straightaway, you’re into Qualifying. But, that’s what we’re here to do, right?”

It’ll be interesting to see how much Mercedes’ upgrades this weekend can propel them forward this weekend. Red Bull have been the clearly dominant team in 2023, but there’s potential that they will be tested in the coming races. This is because Ferrari and Aston Martin are also expected to introduce major upgrades around the next few races.

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