Mercedes will continue to press on with their development push over the coming races, says Lewis Hamilton, following their recent gains.
Mercedes have cut their deficit to pace-setters Ferrari and Red Bull in the last three rounds. Hamilton and team mate George Russell appeared to be in contention for pole position at the last race until the pair suffered separate crashes in qualifying.The team has brought another aerodynamic upgrade to this weekend’s race at Paul Ricard. Hamilton indicated their development push will continue into and after the summer break which follows the next round.
“It’s been really positive to have some consistency coming back,” he said today. “Bit by bit we’re getting a little bit more comfortable in the car. Also with the direction where you set the car up, where you position the car, what the car will accept.
“Obviously it bit me in the last race [weekend] with the crash in qualifying. But otherwise we’re constantly adding performance, we’re constantly progressing forwards.
“There’s a lot to come in the next races and I’m excited by that. In the last race we were only a few tenths off the lead guys in qualifying. Slowly we’re getting closer.
“The gap may be bigger in some tracks, who knows. But in the last race I was seeing it on TV, the battle up ahead, I hope that I get to be a bit more in the battle some time soon.”
“I’m working towards getting that win,” he said. “I do believe at some stage we’ll be able to compete with these guys. Whether it’s this weekend or in five races’ time, I don’t really think about that.
“I think more about the journey. The journey is the important part. We started off not where we wanted to be. We’ve made progress. We started to reach a pattern of a bit of consistency. Not a single person in our team has given up and we’ve continued to push, so I’m really proud of the process and experience that we’ve had.
“Entering into the season, it’s not necessarily the one you would ask for, but if anything it’s been a really valuable lesson learnt for all of us – and experience. I think we sharpened our tools in lots of other areas so that when we do get back to where I feel like we deserve to be, I think we will appreciate it that much more.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 French Grand Prix
- Ferrari’s season of missed chances led to “difficult” criticism for Binotto
- McLaren looking into why their starts are “more inconsistent” this year
- Mercedes expect Hungarian GP will ‘expose our qualifying weakness’
- Hamilton and Russell ‘out-performing a car that’s not good enough’ – Wolff
- “We need to decide now”: Inside Sainz and Ferrari’s French GP strategy dilemma
Biker56 (@biker56)
21st July 2022, 18:12
The English language is a ‘bit’ odd like that – I am a native speaker BTW.
I hope the bitter experience has indeed helped sharpen the tool bit, and we can all celebrate afterwards with a nice pint of .. mild.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
21st July 2022, 22:20
Hope FIA now will start digging into Mercedes’ F1 business regarding the costs just as much and fast as they did with the porpoising and the supposedly flexing floors of RBR and Ferrari. I mean the teams were spending obscene sums just to develop the cars over the season, what Mercedes is doing this season is to catch up and develop at the same time, so without doubt the spendings are much bigger.
Renan
22nd July 2022, 2:14
I think that there’s a difference in approach.
Mercedes gave up on the championship early on and their debelopment was focused on understanding the car first, then improving performance. They decided for a less risky approach until they had a good grasp of it because finishing 3rd or 5th in the championship didn’t mean much for them.
RBR and Ferrari are fighting for the title, so nothing is out of the table and they will push all boundaries to win.
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
21st July 2022, 22:33
People are keeping their eyes on the job Hamilton is doing on track. Which is good so far.
But his great achievement this year is to bring this car to the front of the field. He is doing an amazing job as team leader, tweaking this car and extracting performance to turn it into a race winner even at the expense of his own results.
That’s a fantastic job. Few drivers in F1 can do that, maybe only Alonso has the same powers today.
Kribana (@krichelle)
22nd July 2022, 1:24
How are Mercedes bringing this many updates in a cost cap season??? I’d like to know some more tips for saving money and using it properly. Even though I do not spend that much. Saving as much money as you can is always a benefit. Or am I just overestimating the cost of their updates? A new nose has to cost a lot in terms of financial resources.
Ajaxn
22nd July 2022, 8:32
How?
They commited themselves early on to understanding the problem. They delayed pulling the trigger on major parts upgrades, and instead concentrated on the ‘low hanging fruits’, cheaper minor tweeks to the front and rear wings, occasionally adding an extra struts as a weekend build.
Unlike other teams they haven’t suffered that many DNF’s, although last week’s crash and rebuild will have set them back a bit. Mercedes have been very selective on where they apply resources, knowing from the start this would be an issue this season.
My only concern is their cooling solution. Their slim pod design only came about because of their high tech cooling solution. The question this weekend and the rest of the summer, will b how well it copes with the increased tempuratures on track and the extra demands placed on the engine now that the bouncing has been resolved..
Kribana (@krichelle)
22nd July 2022, 9:57
Therefore, they are not violating the cost cap regulations? I thought they have been because they have been bringing a lot of updates even possibly more than any other team on the grid?
Illusive (@illusive)
22nd July 2022, 7:58
If RBR themselves hadn’t going over budget I am sure this insane amount of development in a cost cap era would have been flagged, I am surprised Ferrari haven’t already been on this case.