Lewis Hamilton restated his view that Mercedes need to change the concept behind their Formula 1 car after finishing fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
While the Red Bull drivers scored a dominant one-two, Hamilton was passed by Fernando Alonso in the latter stages of the race and was unable to follow the Aston Martin driver past Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Ferrari.On Friday Hamilton indicated he believes Mercedes need to change the design philosophy of their car in order to challenge their rivals. Speaking after today’s race he made it clear he expects to see a change.
“We’ve just got to keep working,” said Hamilton in response to a question from RaceFans. “We know we’re not where we need to be and we know that this isn’t the right car.
“It’s a difficult one but I’ve just got to try and stay positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the guys, keep trying to be a positive light for them and get the best points I can on a weekend.”
Hamilton said Mercedes were “miles away” from their rivals in the race. He gained a place late on when Charles Leclerc retired from third place with a power unit problem.
“There was a Ferrari that would have been ahead of him so we would have really been sixth,” said Hamilton. “The podium was nowhere near.”
Although he closed on Sainz at the end of the race, Hamilton was unable to attack the Ferrari. “They were just quicker than us,” he said. “The Ferraris are just quicker than us. We’re the fourth-fastest team.
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“It was close for a second and then just couldn’t hold on to him, he just kept going away. I did the best I could.”
Mercedes went into the first race of the season hoping to rebound from a disappointing 2022 campaign which featured just a single win. But while the team had addressed the bouncing problem which plagued it last year, Hamilton said the car otherwise “generally felt the same as last year” in the race.
“When we did the strategy [briefing] in the morning I told the guys it wasn’t good to go as far [in a stint] as they said it was going to go, and it didn’t. So we’ve just got a lot of work to do.
“We’ve just got to add downforce to the car, we’re just lacking a lot of downforce. So that’s really where the time will come. As soon as we put more load on the rear and the front we’ll pick up that pace.”
Hamilton congratulated Mercedes customer team Aston Martin and Alonso, who he fought closely in the race, after they opened their season with a podium finish.
“He did a great job,” said Hamilton. “It’s really amazing to see. And to all the Aston Martin team they did such an amazing job.
“So we’ve got work to do because half their car is ours and they do their aero in our wind tunnel. So we’ve got some work to do.”
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2023 Bahrain Grand Prix
- FIA no longer applying its limit on F1 cars ‘porpoising’
- Why F1’s 2023 tyres are requiring drivers to change their management style
- The familiar and unfamiliar problems holding McLaren back at the start of 2023
- ‘Not like a rookie’: How McLaren glimpsed Piastri’s potential in curtailed debut
- “I’m a shouty guy”: Tsunoda told to rein in “emotional” radio chatter
Edvaldo
5th March 2023, 18:36
They are far from Red Bull, that they know for more than a year.
But now they were completely outclassed by a team that was nowhere last year and that uses the same PU and some other parts as them. If this is not a wake up call i don’t know what is.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th March 2023, 1:51
Good point, it must be a long time since mercedes isn’t the best team with a mercedes engine in a season, I think we’d have to go back to 2012! Back then mclaren was still better and was still using merc engines, after that mercedes improved in 2013 and then dominated the following years and even when they didn’t win the championship in 2021 and had a bad season in 2022 there was still no merc customer anywhere near, so unusual indeed.
Mayrton
6th March 2023, 14:38
This is just the 2023 PR Mercedes campaign starting. Shout that the season is already over to force Liberty/FIA to act, step in, change things. Mercedes currently hasn’t got a ‘safety card’ to flail around as with the porpoising (2022) and tyres (2021). So they resort to this for the moment. I am sure their lobby will lead to some kind of advantage for Mercedes somewhere this year.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th March 2023, 18:44
aspiring aerodynamicist in training, just over a year ago
André
5th March 2023, 18:56
You can make the right decisions with the information that you have, and still not succeed, because you didn’t have all the data that you actually needed to have made a better decision. Sometimes you take risks and that pays off. Sometimes it doesn’t. Now it’s becoming clear that the current concept is a dead-end, but you actually have to try in order to find out. Look, they’re still 4th best team with a bad concept. The biggest problem, in my view, would be to switch to another concept which they’re not on top of. Redbull and Aston understand their concept. Mercedes may still struggle to make that work. Switching won’t immediately solve their problems.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th March 2023, 20:27
Mercedes had all they data required to make this decision 378 days before it was announced yesterday.
Addme (@dontme)
5th March 2023, 20:44
I am pretty sure you don’t have the data to make that claim
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th March 2023, 21:44
Mercedes themselves have publicly commented that the W13’s problems were apparent from its first filming day at Silverstone on Feb 19th, 2022.
hyoko
5th March 2023, 18:58
Ahem, maybe they just drive better
Ben
5th March 2023, 19:14
I actually think Toto got this all wrong.
2022 – If Merc still had HAM and BOT in the team, they would have binned this concept earlier as both drivers would have suffered. George came in from a weak team to a weak car and looked good.
2023 – should have binned the whole concept in the winter. Now they have to write of 2023 and be two years behind Redbull.
Ferrari will never have a championship winning team, they had Vettel and Alonso and they fumbled it for them.
Aston Martin may be RB of 2022, but they are no 2 team and will get regular podiums.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th March 2023, 20:32
I don’t think this decision came down to driver performance or reporting.
Someone in Mercedes’ design group chose to trust their simulation data over how the real car performed in the real world. And they had enough clout in the team to make them follow them down the rabbit hole for the entirety of 2022 and with their 2023 car, too.
That’s why a head needs to role, to show that Toto’s ‘no holy cows’ approach is real and data is once again king.
Edvaldo
5th March 2023, 20:42
But what is this “good” that Russell was looking last year? To be P4? Because if this is good, then they’re ok as that is exactly the bit of the grid they’re habitating right now.
The car was weak in both drivers hands last season and the gap to the top remained stable until the end.
The only thing they proved in a year is that they now can control the bouncing.
Red Bull seemed to have a grasp of this rules early, so you expect their leaps to be smaller, but no, they are just as far ahead as they were in Abu Dhabi last year.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th March 2023, 1:55
There’s a difference between vettel and alonso at ferrari: vettel threw away the only realistic chance with his mistakes, 2018; alonso carried a car that had no business being in the championship fight to almost winning in 2010 and 2012, so I don’t find “they fumbled it for them” fair: vettel did it himself.
David BR (@david-br)
5th March 2023, 20:00
Possibly easier to switch teams than turn around the Mercedes container ship at this point. Not that he will, obviously.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
5th March 2023, 21:30
Russell will leave before Hamilton.
Mayrton
6th March 2023, 14:23
The challenge is that there isn’t a place to go for Lewis. Charles would love to switch places with Lewis I guess, but that is not going to bring either anything. AM has Alonso, RB have Max. Lewis has destroyed his relationship with these two so that won’t be an option either.
Jimmy Cliff
5th March 2023, 20:42
You are no longer the right driver – Mercedes had to spend too much in last 2 years on your PR and ego instead of focussing on the car.
Why are you still driving, unlike Alonso you are clearly past your prime and there is no real motivation other than misguided ego. Quit so you can spend 24*7 on your protests and your 101 other than F1 things.
Nick
6th March 2023, 18:22
Wrong side of history mate. On everything.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
5th March 2023, 21:30
Like I posted yesterday, something is going on in the Mercedes organization. There is no way that a group sticks with a bad design for an entire season AND then shows up the following season with the same car. Unless of course it is someone at the very top of the organization’s idea or their kid’s idea or their lover’s idea. Hopefully someone will leak that information out because it is pathetic and embarrassing to be losing ground out there, just ask McLaren.
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
5th March 2023, 21:37
Agreed. Hamilton’s comments (Russell and Toto too) sound like they are directed at people within the organization and not us. I’d love to know what’s really going on in the team. As you and others point out, this seems like this car is the brainchild of someone very high up, or a relation to them, which is why they haven’t been able to scrap it.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
5th March 2023, 23:59
Hindsight is a wonderful gift but you do have to think Merc have messed this up. Last year’s car was beginning to look pretty competitive with the Ferrari at the end of 2022. But not a match for the RedBull.
Merc chose to stick with the same concept for this year but it was a flawed approach, They gambled on sticking with it but the gamble has come unstuck after just one race it seems.
Like Hamilton says, taking the whole package into account they actually may only be 4th quickest at the moment which is a real failure for them.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th March 2023, 1:57
True, would be the worst performance in 11 years for them, though I presume, judging by recent history, that they will outdevelop both their main rivals over the season.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
6th March 2023, 0:01
At least paint the car silver so we can see it, and tell it apart from the Astons and Alfas it’ll be racing with.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
6th March 2023, 9:59
The black pig….
Webber fan
6th March 2023, 11:34
What do you mean “this isn’t the right car”? You said it is the driver and not the car that wins championships!