Mercedes claims current generation of F1 cars ‘doesn’t suit” Lewis Hamilton

Andrew Shovlin reckons Lewis Hamilton is not good with the ground-effect F1 cars

Mercedes claims current generation of F1 cars ‘doesn’t suit” Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)

Lewis Hamilton has been racing in Formula 1 for two decades and he was phenomenal at his times. Mercedes claims Hamilton is used to the old style of driving and the current generation cars don’t suit his style. The Briton has only secured one victory since the new technical regulations were introduced. In 2024 Hamilton is trailing behind teammate George Russell in the driver’s standings, who is the current generation driver.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin stated that George Russell has always been very impressive in qualifying sessions. He has been incredible since the day he started his journey in F1, he was getting people’s attention. Shovlin highlighted that, when Russell was racing for Williams, he consistently delivered strong qualifying sessions. This track record highlighted Russell is a fast driver compared to Lewis Hamilton in today’s era.

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George has always set a very high bar in qualifying,” said Shovlin. As soon as he was in F1, he was impressive. Even in the Williams, he was doing some pretty impressive qualifying sessions. So we know that he’s very quick.
Andrew Shovlin said, as reported by RaceFans.net

Shovlin said that Hamilton always complained that Saturdays, which are for qualifyings, have been challenging for him. The seven-time-world champion always had difficulty with this current type of car because it doesn’t suit his driving style. The 50-year-old stated that Hamilton has been working hard to adjust his driving techniques to better handle the car. Despite this challenges, Hamilton is putting in effort to improve his performance in qualifying sessions.

Lewis hasn’t disguised the fact that Saturdays were his tough day. He’s struggled with this whole generation of car, really, not suiting his style. He’s been working on how he drives.
Andrew Shovlin stated.

Andrew Shovlin hopes to see Lewis Hamilton on pole position

Andrew Shovlin mentioned that Mercedes has made good progress recently. He pointed out that George Russell is their strong contender for qualifying. He is slightly ahead of Lewis Hamilton by small margins, which shovlin thought is a positive development for the team. The 50-year-old is pleased that Hamilton is performing better in qualifying now than before, and he is optimistic to push harder to improve further.

Andrew Shovlin
Andrew Shovlin (via IMAGO)
We’ve made progress. Recently, George has unqualified Lewis by some fairly fine margins. So it’s great for the team that Lewis is back up there and he’ll be pushing on.
Andrew Shovlin expressed.

Further, Shovlin stated that the team is working with efforts to improve their performance significantly. He expressed optimism, with ongoing efforts, they would likely see Lewis Hamilton achieve some more pole position in 2024. Mercedes expect Hamilton to perform better in qualifying sessions, leading to more opportunities for him to start races from the front. As the Briton is set to leave the squad by the end of 2025, they want to end it on a good note.

But we’ll keep working on that and I’m sure that we’ll see hopefully some more Lewis pole positions as well
Andrew Shovlin added

Certainly, Andrew Shovlin is confident that their hard work and Lewis Hamilton’s vision will lead them to clinch more victories in 2024. They want to end the season with him on a good note. Fans eagerly anticipate for the Hungarian GP on Sunday and hope Mercedes perform as they did in past races .

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