Lewis Hamilton has voiced the urgent need for “big changes” at Mercedes to bolster their competitiveness against Formula 1 adversaries.
His sentiments come in the wake of a disheartening experience at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he lamented feeling as though he were “racing in a different category.”
The illustrious seven-time world champion’s performance in Jeddah saw him crossing the finish line in a disappointing ninth place. His aspirations for a more favorable outcome were thwarted by his inability to overtake McLaren’s Lando Norris in a heated battle for lower-end points in the latter stages of the race.
In a further blow to Mercedes, both Hamilton and his teammate George Russell found themselves trailing behind Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso. Piastri and Alonso, driving for Mercedes customers McLaren and Aston Martin respectively, outpaced the Mercedes duo to secure superior finishing positions.
Hamilton wasted no time in pinpointing the shortcomings of the Mercedes W15, particularly its deficiency in high-speed corners when compared to the McLaren.
The urgent call for substantial modifications within the Mercedes camp underscores the team’s determination to regain their competitive edge in the fiercely contested world of Formula 1.
“The car is relatively good in the low-speed and not so bad in the medium but in the high-speed we are miles off,” Hamilton admitted.
“It was like I was in a different category when I was going through the high speed compared to the other guys around me.
“It’s frustrated for sure to be, for three years in a row, to almost be in the same position.
“It’s definitely tough but we’ll get our heads down and keep working away. I know everyone back at the factory is pushing as hard as they can.
“But we definitely need to make some big changes. We haven’t made big enough changes perhaps.
“If you look at the three teams ahead of us, they still have a different concept to where we are in some areas. So we have some performance to add, that’s for sure.”
Similar to Norris, Hamilton adopted an offset strategy, opting to extend his first stint before switching to soft tires towards the end of the race. The intention behind this strategy was to leverage the enhanced grip of the softer tires to make up ground on the frontrunners.
Although the strategy didn’t yield the desired results, Hamilton expressed satisfaction that his Mercedes team had ventured into uncharted territory.
He stated; “I think it was worth trying something different, splitting the cars and trying the different strategies.”
“Ultimately, that’s always the goal, to try and do something a little bit different, particularly when we are in the position we are in.
“I was fighting as hard as I could to go long and I was hoping for a Safety Car or something, but was just unfortunate.”
