Lewis Hamilton denies that the direction of Mercedes’ development in any way determines his planned future with the team. Even though they stop, he still believes in himself.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were excited during and after the weekend in Spain and Canada, but in Austria this past weekend the smiles on their faces froze a bit. Their performance was lower than previously expected, in addition, Ferrari and even McLaren managed to beat them in the race.
According to chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin, there were several reasons for this: Because of the weekend, they couldn’t set up their car perfectly, but the track didn’t suit them as well as they thought, and the competitors made progress with improvements. “When there are three practices, we always improve the car more, because there is more practice, we learn more, and we can improve the settings. But everyone is in the same boat with an hour of practice, so we can’t use that as an excuse.”
“Partly because our car does not suit the Austrian track as well as others, and partly because our opponents have equipped their cars with improvements, some of them recently, while ours will arrive very soon, and we hope to be in front again avoiding them.” explained the specialist.
He also predicted that the big development at Silverstone, which team boss Toto Wolff announced back in Canada, will be a new front wing, which they hope will push them back in front of their direct competitors. “We’ll have improvements. There’s a new front spoiler coming, which we hope will take us a little further on the grid. We also hope that the track will fit our car a little better than the one in Austria.”
Eight-time Silverstone champion Lewis Hamilton believes this is not a significant innovation to radically change their attitude, but he is optimistic.
“We’ve got a new front wing and hopefully that’s another step in the right direction. There’s no question a big, big deal, we’re just going step by step and hopefully we can reduce the damage we’re facing.”
“Austria wasn’t a great weekend for us, but we learn the most from it, it brings us together as a team. I visited the factory on Tuesday and Wednesday and everyone is working hard to turn bad things into something good this weekend.” Briton explained.
Lewis Hamilton (Photo: XPB)Hamilton has not signed or announced an extension to his contract with Mercedes, which expires at the end of the year. A possible reason for the delay has been suggested that he was still not entirely convinced his team could become a winning team again by the deadline. However, at the press conference in Silverstone, he categorically denied that this was the case.
“No, no, I don’t think so. The contract will be valid before the end of the year. I still trust the team 100 percent. It takes all of us a little longer to get to where we want to be, and it’s certainly not easy, but I think we’ll get there, we just have to work.” and getting closer.”
“That’s what we’re aiming for, for example with the new front wing we’ve brought here, with the next racing developments. I hope they come quickly. I’m also pushing as hard as I can. We just had a big meeting with the team. I’ve spoken to the head of aerodynamics.” , driving dynamics, and indeed about next year’s car.” – He said upfront that he’s very interested in the 2024 season.
Mercedes: Because of the FIA’s slow pace, Hamilton had no chance of avoiding the penalty
Because of the FIA’s slow pace, Lewis Hamilton had no chance of avoiding the Austrian penalty, according to Mercedes. They also explained why he could not keep his car on track at the start of the race.
A few weeks ago, based on their performance in Barcelona, Hamilton spoke very optimistically about Mercedes’ chances at the fast Silverstone circuit. Now he was a little more careful. To the usual question, whether Nigel Mansell’s mentioned half-second, which meant cheering the home crowd, would help him, he smiled. “I wish it was half a second! We need it now!”
“I hope so, but it would be hard to tell. The crowd simply lifts you up and the whole team. When you get here, the positive energy flows towards you, which helps you. You can see it from the car from certain angles and it’s really inspiring. I’ll always remember my first win here, how excited I was.” Masses in the monastery.
The Briton was also somewhat nostalgic and recalled his memories of Silverstone. “I’m happy to be back. This is the best Grand Prix! I remember the first time I raced here. I was much younger, I crashed, it wasn’t a good race. Then I competed here in Formula Renault for the first time in formula cars. I must have been thirteen or I was 14 when I went out to watch the race here with McLaren. I was standing there in the garage dreaming of entering Formula 1 one day. Then my first year here was an amazing ride. I remember the first time it happened to me when I took pole in 2007, And that was probably the only time the crowd booed my car. It was really special.” The eight-time Silverstone winner looked back.
