Lewis Hamilton’s change in comments regarding Mercedes’ engineers speaks volumes about how he has slowly been ground down by the Silver Arrows’ current situation and the struggling W14. At the start of the season, the seven-time F1 champion demanded the team “own up” and admit their concept was wrong after failing to take his advice on the car.
He told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast back in March: “Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car. Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need. And I think it’s really about accountability, it’s about owning up and saying ‘yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’.
“We’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team, that’s what we do. We’re still multi-World Champions you know, it’s just they haven’t got it right this time, they didn’t get it right last year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get it right moving forward.”
Flash forward eight months and Hamilton is singing from a different hymn sheet. After a dismal performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday that saw Hamilton place eighth, the Brit thanked his team for their hard work over the weekend and insisted that they could leave Sao Paulo with their “heads held high”.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said: “One thing the car is really unpredictable. In a sense of one weekend it feels good, one session it feels good, and then not.
“I’m sure we will go and look at things and find things we should have done differently but with the one [practice] session it’s difficult.
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“But I’m still proud of the team, they still came here and did their work, they hold their head up high and that’s what we have to continue to do. Just keep pushing forward. Two more races with this thing. Hopefully no more driving it.”
With two races to go until the end of the season, Mercedes find themselves 20 points clear of Ferrari in second place in the constructor standings. The Silver Arrows haven’t won a single race this season with the W14 as Red Bull continue their dominance at the top. Hamilton will be hoping things will change next year as the engineers begin designing Mercedes’ new car for the 2024 season.
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