“We’ve had a couple of difficult days,” Lewis Hamilton recognizes the persistent issues faced by Mercedes
Mercedes have got off to a rough start in 2023.
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Lewis Hamilton
The Mercedes F1 team had high hopes for its 2023 challenger. However, pre-season testing has not gone according to plan. The Silver Arrows have faced a rough start to the year. George Russell stopped on track during day 2 after facing an unexpected hydraulic problem on the W14. Subsequently, Lewis Hamilton admits the struggles the team has faced in pre-season testing.
The 38-year-old talked about the team trying to solve the initial setbacks during testing. Hamilton said, “They’re just things that we’re working through.” Although, the British driver recognized the balance issues that had carried over from the W13. Lewis Hamilton confessed, “Some of the balance limitations that we had last year are just present. So we’re working through them.”
Moreover, the 7-time world champion owned up to the rough sailing at the Bahrain pre-season test. Lewis stated, “I think it’s difficult to sum it up. I think we’ve had a couple of difficult days.” Subsequently, Lewis Hamilton mentioned the worse second day of testing at Team Brackley. The British driver said, “Yesterday [Day 2], particularly, was difficult. The first day didn’t feel too bad, yesterday was a little bit more of a struggle.”
“A huge step for us,” Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes finally solving the bouncing on the W14
The British driver was glad to see the bouncing on the car to be finally resolved. He said, “Right now, the bouncing that we had has pretty much gone.” Consequently, Lewis Hamilton admitted this to be a major step towards development. The 38-year-old continued, “So that’s a huge step for us.” In 2022, both Hamilton and George Russell had to bear through extreme bouncing on the W13.
Further, the 7-time world champion mentioned his relief over not having to drive a car with constant bouncing. Lewis continued, “It’s nice to drive without the bouncing for once.” Although, the British driver was quick to recognize the other issues that were left to be addressed by Toto Wolff‘s squad. Lewis Hamilton stated, “But there are still some underlying things that we have been working through.”
The Silver Arrows aimed to regain the order in 2023 and match the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari. However, for now, the German team will have to go back to the drawing board and fix some major issues prevalent in the car before Mercedes can finally get back to winning ways in Formula 1.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2310 Articles Published)