For an entire year and then some, Lewis Hamilton was the most frustrated man donning the Mercedes overalls. The Brit began voicing his annoyance toward the shoddy state of the W13 after seeing little to no improvements. This narrative continued in 2023 as well, as we all know, after Mercedes decided to stick by the zeropod concept. However, after losing confidence in the concept and taking on a new development path, the team finally showcased a new “side” of the W14. The W14 upgrades definitely got the fans excited. Although, how did these upgrades translate to the men that it matters to the most? Mercedes’s chief engineer Andrew Shovlin has an answer to that.

The British engineer took time out after the Monaco GP to have a chat on the F1 Nation podcast. During the chat, Shovlin explained the team’s decision and reasoning to take on this new development path. More importantly, he also revealed how Hamilton felt about the upgrades.

“What happens going forward will tell us whether we’ve landed on the right concept and whether we’ve got a strong development. But it made a lot of sense to us to go to something that looks a bit more like the rest of the grid at running rather than trying to forge our own path endlessly,” revealed Shovlin.

After his revelation, the host Tom Clarkson also made one. He said, “Lewis called it the sun of a gun.”
To this, Shovlin replied, “Yeah he said some good things about the car this weekend. He said it feels decent on the brakes and he’s got confidence.”

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Mercedes might finally be on the right path after almost a year of back and forth. However, despite the positive developmental step, there is still a long way away for the Silver Arrows to challenge Red Bull.

However, this step in the right direction might help Toto Wolff not fulfill his bleak prediction of the future.

The future of Lewis Hamilton becoming more secure as Mercedes takes a step in the right direction

One consistent topic of debate in the season so far has been Hamilton’s future. The Brit has so far stalled his contract talks in lieu of Mercedes’s upgrades. However, now that the Brit is seeing progress and the car is being developed in the right direction, we might have clarity on his future. In fact, these upgrades might also help Wolff take his words back on Hamilton’s future with the team.

Speaking about Hamilton’s retirement, he told Marca, “I don’t think that he’s at that stage but I would have no grouch if that happens in a year or two. As a driver, if he wants to win another championship, he needs to make sure that he has the car, and if we cannot demonstrate that we can give him the car in the next couple of years then he needs to look everywhere.”

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The boss can rest easier now, especially after Hamilton’s comments about the car. However, it is yet to be seen how the car performs on different tracks and will it really affect Hamilton’s decision on his future.