Hamilton will not be Mercedes’ main driver until the F1 cars change

With Mercedes so far from winning a race, let alone a title race, in form and Lewis Hamilton yet to have a 2024 Formula 1 contract, the ‘Hamilton mood watch’ will become popular entertainment even without him being – relatively speaking – as outspoken about the team’s efforts as he is. lately.

He wasn’t the team’s best player either. Yes, he led George Russell home in Bahrain, but Russell lost 2-0 in qualifying battle (Saturday’s gap was almost four-tenths of a second in Saudi Arabia last weekend) and Russell finished ahead on race day in Jeddah as well.

Sunday is still better for Hamilton in Saudi Arabia than Friday and Saturday. Only eighth in qualifying, and losing pace on the hard tires in the first stint, when he was overtaken by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, he had the advantage of being able to pass the pit stops under the safety car and then was in the medium for the second. a task when most others are at hard. That allowed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari to secure fifth place.

It was enough for Hamilton to say he was “generally happy” and that there were “lots of positives to take away” from the Jeddah weekend. He was surprised to beat both Ferraris in the race as well, although Ferrari’s take on this was that it was just a quirk of race circumstances such as timing the safety car for its strategy and then faring badly on hards, not a sign that it was now behind Mercedes overall.

But even amidst a relatively complacent weekend, there were strong hints that Hamilton would not be Mercedes’ top hope until changes were made to the car.

There’s a degree to which Hamilton says the difference between him and Russell is simply down to set-up choices, and Hamilton appears to have gone awry up front relative to his team-mate.

But both Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff have spoken that there are still underlying issues with the 2023 Mercedes that will limit what Hamilton can do specifically until major changes are made.

“Our downforce is way down, we have to increase the rear downforce especially,” said Hamilton when asked what he needs to do to be more confident in the W14.

“The more rears we get, the more stable the backs are, the more confidence we can go forward.

“But I think in general this car, even if we change it, there is something specific with something in the car.

“This is a position I have never been in a car in previous years. For me, it was something I wasn’t comfortable with, so I have to work hard with the team to ensure that change.”

How Russell and Hamilton compare in Jeddah

Scott Mitchell-Malm

Russell definitely put the car into a better working window in Saudi Arabia than Hamilton did.

I was under the impression that Lewis was just going in the direction of a set-up that wasn’t that different from Russell’s but different enough that it didn’t seem right.

He had no confidence in his car all weekend. Russell did a better job, he probably didn’t make any trouble himself whereas it looks like Hamilton is doing a little bit the way he wants trying to adjust the setup of the car.

But overall Mercedes is in the moment: best case scenario is if something happens to the faster car, it might steal the podium.

Asked by The Race whether the Mercedes was easier to manage in race conditions than during the all-or-nothing qualifying lap, Hamilton agreed that the heavy fuel and more measured demands of race pace tamed the car to a degree.

“It’s very difficult when you are above 95% but when you are in race duty it is much more controllable, more predictable,” he said.

We are still very early in the 2023 F1 season and only have a small sample to judge relative performance. The tuning success that Russell has relative to Hamilton may be unique to the asphalt demands of Jeddah’s roads, for example.

But Hamilton’s recent talk about feeling “disconnected” from the car and complaints that his feedback last year went unheeded supports feelings that there is a certain gap between what he wants for his driving style and preferences and how the W14 behaves, an added layer. personal discomfort beyond the car’s overall speed deficit. And basic ones too, not something a different setup tweak or circuit would remove.

That’s deduced from the way Wolff sums up how Hamilton feels about his 2023 car too, his description carrying a clear hint that this isn’t just a bad car but an ugly car that specifically doesn’t fit Hamilton’s needs.

“I think we have a fundamental problem that he’s not happy with and it’s related to the way he feels the back of the car,” said Wolff.

“And it’s not something that can be cured quickly.

“But the driver is the most important sensor in the car and if they tell us how they feel, we need to take that into account.”

Making a car fit for Hamilton paid off

On last week’s The Race F1 Podcast, Mark Hughes explained how Hamilton’s apparent grievances had steered Mercedes in the right direction with the previous generation of cars.

“Sometimes what the numbers say doesn’t match what the driver is trying to say and the driver gets rejected because the simulation says something else and the engineers are working from the numbers. But sometimes the reality is not like that.

“Hamilton always asks for a car that he can take very, very aggressive corner approaches, with very late braking, geometric lines but very aggressive input and a rear that will follow suit.

“When Mercedes had the 2017 diva car (above), Hamilton said he preferred a different balance of aero. And over the next few years, he gradually convinced the team to keep moving in the direction he wanted and from 2017 to 2020 getting better every year.

“If Mercedes looks back maybe they really see that there is a correlation between what Hamilton asked for and performance, because the car in general got better between 2017 and 2020 moving in the direction he asked for.

“Putting his input in a higher priority order is probably one of the lessons to be learned.”