It has been a rough start to the year 2023 for Mercedes, which is tough after they had a disastrous 2022. And as a result, the sweet relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes Petronas AMG may come to a bitter end.
Many believed the Bahrain Grand Prix to be Mercedes’ return to the throne, but after an abysmal performance, the British superstar racer put the entire blame on the engineering team. The 7 times world champion claims that Mercedes did not listen to him at all during the development of their current car, known as the W14.
After making his admiration for the W14 visible in social media, in the BBC’s Chequered Flag Podcast, Hamilton said that he had already made the developers aware of the issues with the car. “I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn’t need,” he said. He also mentioned that nobody really listened to him and made adjustments accordingly.
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What is the current state of Mercedes after consecutive failures?
Mercedes is under immense pressure from both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and it is unclear whether they can come up with a championship-winning car quickly. There are rumors surrounding Mercedes that they might abandon the 2023 season completely to solely focus on the 2024 season.
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Lewis was expected to sign a contract extension to challenge for his 8th world championship, but as of yet he hasn’t signed anything. And given the current circumstances, it is unlikely that it’s going to happen unless Mercedes engineers can come up with a quick solution.
Hamilton finished 7th in the Bahrain Grand Prix qualification but managed to claim the 5th spot in the race. His race time was 1:34:47.713 across the 57 laps, a whopping 51 seconds behind the winner, Max Verstappen. Mercedes managed to come out of the Bahrain Grand Prix with only 16 points.
Where do you think Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will finish the 2023 calendar year? Let me know in the comment section.
