Concerned About Max Verstappen & Co’s Masterplan, Lewis Hamilton Rejects Toto Wolff’s Plan of Action Devised to Dethrone Red Bull

One cannot survive in F1 by just looking at one’s development and comparing it to their previous results. F1 is a highly competitive sport which means looking at what the competitors are doing. Look at Alpine, who suggest that they’ve made major steps this year. However, the competition around them leapfrogged them. Lewis Hamilton is also looking at Max Verstappen and Co’s plans. As the Red Bull master plan worries the Briton, he disregards Toto Wolff’s theory to dethrone Red Bull and has come up with his own ideas. What is Lewis Hamilton suggesting?

Mercedes made a big step up with the introduction of major upgrades at the Monaco GP. The double podium at the Spanish GP accompanied by the strong showing in Canada, which according to Toto Wolff was not a strong track for the W14’s characteristics are major positives. After the Canadian GP, Toto Wolff suggested that Mercedes will bring a major upgrade to Silverstone and another one later in the season which will help the team make decent inroads in terms of performance.

Despite the strong claims from Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton had other ideas in his mind. The Briton explained how Red Bull have already started working on next year’s car and Mercedes should shift its focus as well. According to SkySports.com Lewis Hamilton said, “We’re definitely getting closer. It’s going to be a battle of development, I guess, over the rest of the season. I reckon Max’s team is already working on next year’s car, so we need to take our eye a little bit off the ball and focus on next year also but yeah, happy to be up there”

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While Lewis Hamilton did express his gratitude toward the work that the team has done to accomplish better results, the Briton is keen not to lose ground to Max Verstappen and Co. with regard to next year’s car. Nonetheless, Toto Wolff remains positive for the remainder of the season as the upgrades show a positive trajectory.

Toto Wolff on the virtual numbers showing a step up in performance 

Last year’s Mercedes’ performance was limited by the setup as they had to run the cars stiffer in order to avoid porpoising. However, Wolff suggests that with the new concept, and running the upgrades in the wind tunnel, the Silver Arrows have a better understanding of what setups work for the car. Hence, future steps tend to offer a greater improvement in performance.

According to SkySports.com, Toto Wolff said “We are seeing good performance gains that are coming in in the tunnel, we are seeing better understanding of what the car needs in order to go fast, what the setups need to look like. So generally the steps are getting bigger now, I think we are making good inroads”

What do you think? Should Mercedes continue the development of this year’s car or focus on next year’s machine?

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