Lewis Hamilton had high hopes of contending for yet another championship this season. Unfortunately, he has been driving a car that is considerably slower than the leading Red Bull, resulting in a failure to secure a podium finish in the first two races.
During the qualifying round in Saudi Arabia, the 38-year-old was four spots behind his teammate George Russell.
On race day, he finished in fifth place, trailing by just over five seconds behind his teammate after deploying an unconventional strategy, starting on hard tires, to try and improve his position.
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According to reports, Toto Wolff has acknowledged that their team’s decision to continue using the zeropod concept in 2023 was a mistake.
He also shared that they plan to make significant changes to their current machinery later this year, in hopes of catching up with the leading team, Red Bull.
In light of this, the Mercedes boss has explained Hamilton’s woes with the W14 – the rear of the car.
“We have a fundamental issue he’s not happy with, and that is linked to the way he feels the rear end of the car,” said Wolff.
“That’s not something that can be cured quickly. The drivers are the most important sensors in the car and if they tell us that’s what they feel, we need to consider that.”
Hamilton had earlier asserted the prevalence of the issue is significantly higher during qualifying as opposed to long runs on race day.
“It’s on a massive knife edge when you’re above about 95 per cent,” he explained.
“But when you’re in a race stint, it’s much more controllable and predictable. I still don’t have the confidence in the race, but I’m doing the best I can with it.”
