Lewis Hamilton had hoped to get closer to Red Bull Racing with the introduction of the new regulations, but Mercedes will also have to make do with a place on the grid behind the reigning world champions in 2023. While porpoising has largely disappeared, Hamilton believes the FIA is not yet delivering what they promised.
It was 2021 when Mercedes slowly started to lose some of its dominance. The Silver arrows still seized the constructors’ title, but the drivers’ championship was won by Max Verstappen. In the following year, the new regulations were introduced by the FIA and the field should be closer together and more overtaking should take place. Mercedes did not experience it that way at all, because they had more difficulty overtaking, suffered from porpoising and fell further back on the grid. After exerting a lot of pressure, Mercedes succeeded in further changing the regulations towards 2023 in order to combat porpoising. Again, it didn’t pan out. Still, Hamilton remains critical of the FIA.
Overtaking and following in 2023 still difficult
The bouncing of the cars seems to have largely disappeared – also with the competition – but following and overtaking other cars is still “the same as before”, according to Hamilton. The Brit hopes that the FIA will review its own rules again and make further changes. The number of overtakes has decreased compared to last year and the differences between the teams at the front have not narrowed either. Red Bull once again has a huge lead over the rest of the field. Maybe even bigger than last year.
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Hamilton wants further rule changes
The fact that Red Bull is so far ahead of the rest – and therefore also Mercedes – is not actually what the FIA had in mind with the new regulations. They had hoped for more close racing, although that seems to happen more often in midfield. Hamilton thinks the motorsport association is on the right track, but wants to see further changes. “It’s a little better than the previous generation of cars, but it (the new regulations, ed.) didn’t deliver everything they promised. So I have some improvements that hopefully can be made in the future,” Hamilton said. conversation with MotorsportWeek.
