Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery

“Different!” laughs Lewis Hamilton. But something is the same. The Mercedes driver is facing the media at his team’s Silverstone pre-season shakedown filming day, but the conversation is taking place via Zoom. Eco- and cost-friendly, easier to manage prying questions, better to keep things hidden.

No Formula 1 team wants stories about its new car leaking out early, so this is an understandable arrangement. But, despite the sky-high interest in the performance capabilities of the new W14, rumours nevertheless surface that things don’t go completely to plan for the new machine’s initial running… 

A supposedly tricky shakedown was followed by a successful 100km filming exercise the next day, Mercedes was keen to stress. But as the first race of 2023 in Bahrain finally arrived on F1’s horizon, there was talk of Mercedes’ wind tunnel numbers not hitting the desired targets for the W14’s aerodynamic potential, of tricky simulator sessions aimed at understanding early handling cues. This, combined with an intense desire to under-promise and over-deliver, adds up to a very different sounding and feeling Hamilton from 2022. 

When the W13 was launched 13 months ago, the seven-time world champion was confidently predicting the F1 world was about to see him hit even greater heights than he’d managed in that epic 2021 title battle with Max Verstappen. He came out with fighting talk, clearly focused on wresting his crown straight back from Red Bull’s Dutch star. And then came Bahrain testing – the second of two tests in 2022 – that revealed Mercedes’ ‘zeropod’ design concept was prone to extreme porpoising and dramatic ride issues.

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For the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton went a season winless and pole-less. Having experienced such a severe expectations reset in early 2022, the theme running through Hamilton’s pre-season words this time around is ‘restraint’. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m bullish like I was last year,” he explains. “I would say just ‘more cautious’. Hopefully we hit the ground running, but it’s not always the case. We showed last year that, with whatever we’re faced with, we can recover. So, that’s what we’ll try and do this year. 

Hamilton remains determined to achieve success with Mercedes although is cautious about its potential in 2023 after its trials with the W13 last year

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Last year I was bullish because they [Mercedes’ design team] were bullish. We had big upgrades coming and I was like, ‘Right, we’re going to be coming to hit hard!’ But, obviously, it was a shock to all of us [what happened with the car]. So, I think this year everyone is a lot more grounded. More of the approach of, ‘We perhaps won’t be the fastest out of the gate, but we have the potential to close’.” 

From its years at the top of the F1 pile, Mercedes has the expectation management game mastered – although it clearly needed something of a refresher course ahead of 2022.

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It clearly sees promise in the evolved ‘zeropod’ design and its potential to significantly complement downforce generated by underfloor aero surfaces with its wide floor, or it would have moved away from the concept. But there’s a sense this is a last hurrah for the striking design, with team members openly talking about bringing big upgrades that would change the sidepods early in the campaign if required and Mercedes is indeed off the pace at the season opener as its downbeat launch mood forecasts.

"When I sit in the office that I’ve been coming to for now the 11th year we all say, ‘Jeez, it’s been a long time!’ But everyone is still excited to work together. It doesn’t feel old, it still feels fresh" Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton, having dived into making extreme set-up choices in a bid to solve the W13’s problems in the early 2022 events, is committed to helping his team finally get back into contention, no matter where it starts this time.

“I’ve said it over and over again, but this is family to me,” he explains. “It’s no coincidence that we’ve won world championships in the past. You don’t all of a sudden just lose the ability to be able to do so. I have the utmost confidence in all the people I’ve been around.  

“When I sit in the office that I’ve been coming to for now the 11th year we all say, ‘Jeez, it’s been a long time!’ But everyone is still excited to work together. It doesn’t feel old, it still feels fresh.” 

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After a decade at Mercedes, it’s clear what Hamilton would like the 11th machine produced by his Brackley family to do compared to the W13. Keep the race pace and tyre management edge it generally showed on Sundays last year, but restore a calmer ride, smooth corner progression without porpoising or bouncing on a near rock solid suspension (tweaked on both axles on the W14 in a bid to do so) and restore braking confidence. The last point is a vital part of Hamilton’s game – a key to his qualifying speed, plus his famously excellent racecraft. 

The Bahrain test underlined that Mercedes has made progress with its car in the second season of F1's ground effects rules

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

After returning from the off-season “very positive, motivated, energised – maybe the best so far I’ve seen in those 10 years”, per Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, Hamilton is continuing with the expanded workload he’s been doing for the past 18 months. After realising how all-out he’d have to go to take on Verstappen, Hamilton has been doing “more simulator running than I’ve ever done”, training even on Christmas day “running up a mountain” and completing Pirelli tyre testing work he’d previously eschewed this winter at Jerez. 

Even if the W14 isn’t a winner from the off, it will at least evoke powerful memories of the two most recent Hamilton success seasons – 2020 and 2021 and the black livery Mercedes put on the W11s and W12s to highlight motorsport’s diversity problems and global racial inequality at the Briton’s urging. Mercedes is back in black primarily to run at the 798kg weight limit it never hit in 2022 with swathes of naked carbon fibre lower down on the W14, but Hamilton is pleased “it’s all out for performance”. 

Hamilton says “it’s not necessarily how it looks, it’s about how quick it goes”, but either way on the speed front his new car’s performance will have a major bearing on the story of his season. That’s for the obvious reasons based on results, but also because he and Wolff have held “a first chat” – according to the Austrian – over a contract extension beyond 2023. Hamilton is expected to sign a long-term deal, but another year in the F1 doldrums will increase speculation from certain elements that he’d rather be working on his team ownership portfolio, music and fashion passions, his F1 film starring Brad Pitt, or just surfing.

“I don’t feel like I need them to prove [anything] to me,” he concludes on his Mercedes relationship, 10 years on from his 2013 switch from McLaren, back in the days when he had just a single world championship to his name. “I think we’ve proved time and again over the years that we have strength in depth. We still have all these incredibly talented individuals within the team. As I said, you don’t lose that ability.  

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“We’re continuing to try and improve our processes, we’re continuing to try and be smarter in how we approach things. I think this is the best harmony within the team that I’ve seen in all these years. We’ve got a real fresh young group of engineers [including on the strategy team to replace new Williams team principal James Vowles] and people that have just come into the team over the past year as well.  

“So it’s an exciting time for the team and I don’t plan on being anywhere else.”

Hamilton believes the "harmony" in Mercedes is the best it ever has been

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The areas Russell is targeting for improvement

The 2022 Formula 1 season might not have provided the title challenge he was hoping for after his long-awaited switch from Williams to Mercedes, but it still went well for George Russell. 

The driver long groomed as the Black Arrows squad’s long-term star once the Lewis Hamilton story finally concludes shone on his promotion to the F1 big time last year. It was of course boosted by the W13’s problems removing the pressure of a first title challenge, trying to be the first since Nico Rosberg to beat Hamilton to a title as team-mates.

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There were costly low moments too. But Russell did what had long been predicted of him. Eight podiums, a pole position and that famous maiden win in Brazil. So where can he be better in 2023? 

"Something I thought Lewis was very good at was maximising the stints and getting the most out of the tyres across a stint. That year under my belt being team-mates with him, seeing some of his traits, has been really beneficial for me" George Russell

“The challenges you face are based with the tyres, the car, and every year we have new tyres, new cars,” says Russell. “Definitely still room to improve and I feel that fills me with confidence because I still felt like I performed at a very high level, even though I know I’ve got a lot more in my pocket.

“The main one is probably just the tyre management. Something I thought Lewis was very good at was maximising the stints and getting the most out of the tyres across a stint. That year under my belt being team-mates with him, seeing some of his traits, has been really beneficial for me. I feel like I was on quite a steep learning curve in that regard, but still, I feel like I’ve got a lot more to come.” 

Russell visited Mercedes’ Brackley base “most weeks” during the winter, as well as continuing his trusted fitness practices. After the typical winter reset, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director, set to start work replacing Sebastian Vettel as another active racing director during the Bahrain action, is “mentally in the strongest place I’ve ever been”.  

“In a happy place, I feel good within myself,” Russell adds. “And I feel like I took the necessary time off, but equally the necessary time working with the team.”

Can Russell get closer again to Hamilton in 2023?

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images