To describe Lewis Hamilton’s 2022 as the ‘worst’ season of his career, while statistically accurate, speaks volumes of the immense success he has enjoyed through his 16-year stint in Formula 1.
No poles. No wins. He finished outside the top five in the championship for the first time in his career – something he managed to achieve even during his most challenging season at McLaren in 2011.Yet, he still scored nine podiums and was in the hunt for wins a handful of times during the end of the year in a car that only won once all season – a reflection that the 38-year-old seven-times champion is still the Lewis Hamilton he’s always been known to be. So heading into a fresh start in 2023, how is he feeling about the new season and a chance to pursue a record-breaking eighth world title once again?
“I wouldn’t say I’m bullish like I was last year, I would say just more cautious,” Hamilton told media including RaceFans after Mercedes’ W14 was unveiled for the first time.
After eight consecutive constructors’ titles and Hamilton winning six of the last eight drivers’ championships, Mercedes could have easily swallowed their 2022 as an inevitability, the ending of an unparalleled run of success that was always certain to end eventually. But that is not the Brackley mentality. Team principal Toto Wolff openly admitted his team’s performance in 2022 was unacceptable to the entire team as well as him. So now, no solution has been overlooked, no avenue unexplored in Mercedes’ pursuit of returning to the top and avoiding another humbling year like they just endured.
“I think ultimately – and it applies to everything in life and every genre job through difficult times – through failure is where you gain the most strength,” Hamilton explains. “It’s when you have to analyse and be critical of yourself and that’s for sure the time that you grow stronger.
“I do think that it set us up for a much, much better future, because we’ve had to change things back in the factory and how we do things, and how we go about things, which I think will help us in the long run.”
Ever since Hamilton joined the team way back in 2013, Mercedes have never delivered him a ‘bad’ car at the end of a winter. But while the W13 was still comfortably quick enough to retain Mercedes’ place within the top three teams a clear step beyond the midfield it was undoubtedly still a problem child.
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“The only thing that we would want to keep would be that our long run pace was very strong last year,” he says. “I think our race pace was always stronger. So I would say that’s probably the only element that we really want to carry on into this season.
“Also reliability. Those are two of the things I think that we definitely want to hold onto. But all the other stuff we want to reinvent, redesign and hopefully see a more efficient car.”
For as off the pace of their rivals as they were in the early races, Mercedes gained an impressive amount of ground to catch up to Red Bull towards the end of the year – even arguably overtaking Ferrari in the process. Hamilton remains confident that however quick the W14 is out of the box, they will once again draw more and more pace from the car as the months go by.
“There is a development plan, it’s been explained to us in detail and and I have full, full trust in the team,” says Hamilton.
“But it’s not until we get the car on the road and we figure out what it’s doing and where the limitations are can we then steer the rudder and develop in that direction. The great thing is we’ve got, I think, two strong drivers and we have similar kind of driving styles so it’ll be clear straight away, I think, if there are issues, what those would be and I think the guys understand the car much more to be able to deal with it.”
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The other “strong driver” Hamilton refers is George Russell, Hamilton’s much younger team mate who impressed many last season with how he was able to match pace with the most successful driver in Formula 1 in just his first full season at the front of the field. Mercedes only tasted victory once last season – and it was Russell who delivered it.
“I think not only as a team do we have to look at ourselves as a team and how we function, but I know ultimately I’m hired by the team,” he explains. “I have to look at how I operate, how I communicate, how I’d use my time and and how I deliver results.
“So I had to continue to be very critical of myself, to be able to understand where the bar is and where the goalposts are moving all the time. How you can evolve as a driver, that’s something I’m very, very focussed on. I’ve done more simulator running than I’ve ever done for the past 18 months, more time with engineers, more going over data and just continuously looking to see how you can evolve as a driver.
“And on the other side of things, it’s the mental and the physical side of things – just continuing to try to evolve. Working with different people. I don’t want to highlight what areas, but just on the physical and mental side of things, there’s so much great research out there of how you can advance your body, how you can be more focussed, and practices that you can take into your daily life. So there’s things like that that that I’ve been working on trying to adopt. And yeah, we’ll see how that works.”
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2023 F1 season
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- First week viewing figures for new Drive to Survive season fall again
- Max who? Drive to Survive season six prefers its favourite faces
- RaceFans’ complete 2023 season review
- The F1 drivers who pulled off the 10 biggest charges through the field in 2023
Mark Sinclair
17th February 2023, 14:38
Max has won 2, Nico has won 1, makes 3. So this means Lewis has won 5 of the last 8 drivers’ championships
Bhopps
17th February 2023, 21:21
I believe it was in reference to Mercedes 8 constructors championships as opposed to the last 8 seasons
SteveP
17th February 2023, 21:32
One, when you remove the dodgy gift from a disgraced race director.
Mark Sinclair
18th February 2023, 19:03
I agree entirely with you on this. But it is what will be written in the history books.
DonSalsa
17th February 2023, 15:12
In addition to what SLH44 has said about the development of the W14 as the season evolves, Toto also mentioned a few days ago (reported on sky) that he thinks they will have a steeper development curve! All they need now is a good correlation of the numbers coming out of the sim / wind tunnel work and actual performance on track. If they get a good / positive correlation, it will mean they are on the right path, which will enable them to unleash the carefully laid out development plan. According to the team, the W13 had 1.5s in it that they couldn’t unleash given all the issues we now know about. If those issues are addressed in the W14, which need confirmation next week in Bahrain, then by May (after the 4-week long ‘break’ between Australia and Baku), the W14 will be unbeatable!
And they mean business; already during the shakedown yesterday, they were running accelerometer sensors on the car!!! And one of the main weakness / limitation of the W13 has been completely addressed; yes, you guessed it, the suspension. Both front and rear have completely been overhauled / changed!
iCarbs (@icarby)
17th February 2023, 19:24
Is it enough to beat Goat Newey?
DonSalsa
17th February 2023, 21:41
Yes, definitely!
They beat him with their long wheelbase, low rake concept over several seasons! For all those seasons, the Mercs were the only team that didn’t jump on the high rake Newey bandwagon! And they will beat him again with their own and unique svelte ‘zero-pod’ concept.
By the Miami GP in early May, the W14 will be unbeatable!
Macademianut (@macademianut)
19th February 2023, 0:36
All those years, Mercedes had a clear advantage on the engine. Tracks where engine power wasn’t needed that much, Redbull aero did its magic.
When Honda finally delivered a good engine with reliability, the two teams were almost equal.
DonSalsa
19th February 2023, 16:28
Are you saying Honda delivered a good engine from 2021? Are you for real 😳?
2021 was due to the FIA handicapping the mercs with the floor cutting directive. Even that, the mercs still beat the bulls to the championship!
SteveP
17th February 2023, 21:35
The gods love an optimist. So many entertainment possibilities.
Ask me in June whether the Merc will be unbeatable in May.
DonSalsa
17th February 2023, 21:49
Hihihii, I won’t ask you; i will instead tell you after the first race in Bahrain!
Tristan (@skipgamer)
17th February 2023, 22:56
Won’t really matter how well set up Mercedes are if he pulls off his race suit to reveal a BLM shirt…
Macademianut (@macademianut)
19th February 2023, 0:37
He doesn’t need to pull off his shirt. The car already shows. “black liveries matter”. :)
playstation361
18th February 2023, 3:23
There seem to be many reports coming that Mercedes is developing a faster car which was not the case for a couple of years and things are going to regenerate speed which we may know over a period of time under certain circumstances.
I want to make a point here that there is always a visibility factor and certain regions they may not be viewed good so there is no balance. I also mean the official broadcasters being very partial to this specific team.
There is complete silence among all and they do they their job and the rest go by. I saw this as a very powerful team from day one.
Dr.D
18th February 2023, 8:59
So we have RB with their improved car, and Ferrari, and Mercedes and a bunch of RB 2022 copies. Would it not be wonderfull if a some of those clones are podium material?
I so hope Alonso will get in the mix for instance. Imagine Hamilton on new tires needing to pass Max and Alonso both in a good car. Finally more than 2 people who dare to fight but won’t be likely pressured into making a mistake.
playstation361
18th February 2023, 15:27
Did not study other teams preparation this time much. Dont know what will happen with Red Bull, so they definitely are not going to give up and keep challenging under any given circumstances as always. Ferrari I know is a very good brand and their image will be intact for sure whatever happens. Aston Marin was a very good news material last year but I only know about their GPS system which did show speed in the middle sometimes more.
FIA is at its best now and has become a talk and is getting segmented way too much. I am sure things are going to improve way too much talking about F1.
Wayne
18th February 2023, 9:01
All i want is for Lewis and Mercedes together with Russel to wipe the smirk and confidence from Horner and his red bull driver. I want Perez to step up and take the fight to max. I want mclaren to up their game. I want ferrari also to deal critical blows to redbull. Amd shock them into oblivion. I want to see max throw all his toys out the cot once again and lose it. And lose it all. That’s all i want. Is it too much to ask?
G
18th February 2023, 20:01
You are a bit late for Santa but you could try praying? See if it helps make all that stuff happen.
Mayrton
19th February 2023, 19:34
Well, it’s a scenario so who knows? Everyone has got his/her want as to how should unfold.
André
18th February 2023, 15:44
Sounds personal. But I get it. The Abu Dhabi 2021 dark cloud still hangs above Redbull.
Wayne
20th February 2023, 11:41
The stench of abu dharbi 2021 is horrendous. Every 1 knows it was a farce and yet the powers that be do nothing to right the wrong. But anyway. Lets see what 2023 has to offer.
Mayrton
23rd February 2023, 11:00
I can’t remember, since it has been quite a while. What was the problem?