Lewis Hamilton has now warned Mercedes that their key problem is ‘not over’ after enduring a tough start to the 2024 Formula 1 season due to a deep-rooted concern.
The Silver Arrows sit in just place fourth in the constructors’ championship after the opening four rounds of the year. Mercedes have amassed a mere 34 points compared to the 141 that Red Bull have scored, the 120 that Ferrari have posted and the 69 that McLaren have scored.
McLaren earning more than double the points that Mercedes have achieved in the first four races, particularly, raises alarm bells in Brackley. The Woking squad buy their power units off Mercedes, whose drivers further rank in P7 with George Russell and P9 with Hamilton so far.
Lewis Hamilton thinks Mercedes’ 2024 plight is rooted in their 2022 failings
Russell has scored 24 of Mercedes’ points so far this season, with Hamilton only scoring 10. The 26-year-old also got P5 in the Bahrain GP plus P6 in the Saudi Arabian GP and P7 in the Japanese GP. Hamilton secured P7 in Sakhir before seizing P9 in Jeddah and also at Suzuka.
Both Mercedes drivers retired from the Australian GP with Hamilton dropping out on Lap 15 with an engine failure. Russell was a classified retirement in P17, having crashed on the final lap whilst following Fernando Alonso. The Briton was fighting the Aston Martin ace over P6.
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Hamilton now believes that Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness at the front of the Formula 1 field in 2024 stems from their ongoing difficulties to maximise the ground effect regulations introduced in 2022. Russell sealed Mercedes’ sole win since then at the 2022 Sao Paulo GP.
Lewis Hamilton warns the Silver Arrows’ struggles are ‘not over yet’
Mercedes broke out on their own in 2022 with a revolutionary zero-pod concept but it failed to yield many rewards. The Silver Arrows’ even endured their first winless season since 2011 last term, having initially carried the zero-pod concept over before scrapping the philosophy.
Hamilton even recently revealed that Mercedes had to remove 90 points of downforce from their 2022 car to control the porpoising. Now, the 39-year-old admits that the Silver Arrows’ woes are ‘not over’ as the team are still playing catch-up due to starting on the wrong foot.
“We just haven’t yet,” Hamilton said, via quotes by Motorsport Week. “It’s not over yet. But I think with this sport it’s just naturally difficult. If you start on the right foot and the first brick down has got a good foundation, you can just continue to build on it
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“I think that’s what we had experienced in the past years. Whereas, when we started with this generation of car, we started with five bricks, good weight, we had to knock it down and try again, knock it down and try again, and take off that performance, basically.
“We made all these changes [and] tried everything. [We] sometimes lost our way, sometimes then found it and then lost it again. I think it’s just very complex.”
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