Lewis Hamilton would rather not have Mercedes look at the concept and sidepods of other teams, including Red Bull Racing. According to the Briton, this will make the W14 ‘perhaps even slower’ than it is now.
In 2023, after the disappointing 2022 season, Hamilton started his third attempt to win an eighth world championship in good spirits. In 2021 he saw his record-breaking title in Abu Dhabi disappear like snow in the sun due to a safety car and an overtaking action by Max Verstappen, while in 2022 the W13 turned out not to be fast enough to give Hamilton a chance for revenge. In 2023, the team seems to be competing with Aston Martin and Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ championship, but Red Bull Racing is once again too fast. The eighth title also seems to be a long way off in 2023.
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Hamilton does not want to copy Red Bull
In conversation with Sky Sports let Hamilton know that he would rather not copy the sidepods and the Red Bull car. “People keep talking about new sidepods on the car, but it’s not that simple. If you put the Red Bull sidepods on our car, literally nothing changes. It might make our car even slower. It’s about the aerodynamics characteristics and the balance of the car in the corners. There are so many different elements that people don’t know about because they’re not aero specialists and you can’t see everything, but there’s a lot more to it.”
Mercedes has to make do with the current concept
Hamilton would rather the team focus on improving the current concept than Mercedes look at other teams. “We have what we have and we will continue to work on getting more out of it. We will soon see if that is possible, if that is possible at all with the current concept. In the short term, we will therefore find out whether we have many large , have to make drastic changes. It is certain that things will change drastically.”
