Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes don’t have the quickest car in Formula 1 yet but expects them to make significant progress with their coming upgrades.
The team scored its second consecutive victory last weekend after locking out the front row of the grid at Silverstone. Hamilton, who will leave the team at the end of the year, scored his first victory for more than two-and-a-half years at Silverstone.Hamilton said he was relieved he will not leave Mercedes without taking another win for them.
“When we started the season and we had a car where we weren’t going anywhere near Red Bull, for example, anywhere near looking like we would ever get a win through the year, that for me felt like it would be kind of bittersweet at the end of the season, where you’ve not had something like today,” he said.
“The fact that we’ve really all come together, everyone’s done such a great job to get the car into a place where we’re feeling much more comfortable, really changes from the foundation from last year. So [I’m] not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal.”
However he believes there is still scope for improvement with the W15. “There’s still a long, long way to go,” he said. “The car, by no means, is the car the quickest car on the grid right now.
“I think we are super close and I think hopefully with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front row more consistently.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team will bring upgrades to the next two races at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps.
Hamilton admitted his victory owed more to the car’s performance than George Russell’s did a week earlier in Austria. Russell was running third when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided while fighting for the lead.
“George’s win last week was amazing, but it wasn’t on pure pace,” said Hamilton. “I think this weekend was the first time we did it on pure pace, qualifying on the front row and after that, in that first stint, both of us pulling away from everybody else.
“Then, ultimately, I think with the conditions today, the driver’s able to make a bit of a difference.”
Hamilton said Niki Lauda, the three-times world champions who served as an advisor to the team until his death in 2019, would be proud of their efforts.
“I’m hugely grateful to everyone in the team. I think this is just hats off – Niki would definitely take his off – to everyone that continued to work hard. Everyone in the garage just continues to show up each weekend and not get downbeat by results.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2024 British Grand Prix
- The ‘good and bad’ reason Piastri is sure he can win after three near-misses
- Gasly solved mystery handling problem by using Ocon’s settings
- Mercedes “will be in an even stronger position” after next upgrade – Hamilton
- Verstappen “refuses to believe” Red Bull are reaching limit of RB20’s potential
- Why “under construction” McLaren still celebrate third place after missing a win
Asd
11th July 2024, 11:54
This makes it even more interesting who their second driver will be in the next season.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
11th July 2024, 16:27
Will the engineers tell Hamilton how these upgrades work now that he’s off to Ferrari in 12 races’ time?
SteveP
11th July 2024, 19:16
Tricky situation, if Lewis memorizes the specifics of the transition point from the laminar to turbulent boundary layer conditions and passes that on to Ferrari it could give them a massive advantage. It would be the same with any other driver changing teams.
I’ve always hidden confidential stuff from my cats, otherwise the info would be all round the village in no time.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
11th July 2024, 19:40
Lewis has probably mastered the art of using a ballpoint pen by now.
grat
12th July 2024, 15:26
Mostly, it would be useless for Ferrari. Hamilton might be able to tell Ferrari that when the W15 had understeer, they fixed it with a bit more wing– but Ferrari will know that. Hamilton isn’t going to be able to tell them how the front wing creates vortices to guide the air into the underbody– but Ferrari will already know that, because there are detailed aero analyses on line, along with high resolution photographs. He can pass along information about what Mercedes did (in high level terms) to fix a particular problem, but that will almost certainly be useless on the Ferrari, as it’s a totally different aero/chassis concept.
He can tell them how the engine responds, and any special features he wants (he’s very picky about his brake setup on the steering wheel, for instance).
He’s not going to be able to tell them much about the W16, as he’s almost certainly been excluded from the design meetings. Or– maybe Mercedes wants his input (although without a physical car, Hamilton’s ability to predict what the car will be like is severely limited) as the 2025 Ferrari is almost certainly well under way for design– And the 2026 car for both teams will be radically different anyway.
Now, if he happened to have a copy of the W15 technical manual or the specs for the 2024 Mercedes-AMG M15 E Performance power unit, I’m sure Ferrari would be interested, but I doubt Hamilton has either manual, or that he would pass it along to Ferrari even if he did.