Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 Sacrifices Go Down the Drain as W14 Challenges Still Remain a Mystery

Recall how Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton entered the 2023 season, hoping to win the title. However, all their hopes shattered after the first race itself. The 7X champion accused his team of not listening to him regarding the problems with the concept. While Mercedes changed the philosophy, the W14 remains a mystery shoving Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 sacrifice down the drain. What did Hamilton say about the mystery?

After Lewis Hamilton’s scathing comments at the Bahrain GP, Mercedes went back to the drawing board. It then brought a B-Spec at the Monaco GP. Hamilton had to sacrifice the first 5 races and wait for the upgrades. And even after the upgrades, the car doesn’t seem to be to his liking. Hamilton then asked for a change in the driving position, but that wasn’t possible due to cost-cap restrictions. It was advised that a new chassis can only be designed and produced for the next year. 

Most recently, the Brit came out explaining that he doesn’t care about where he finishes this season and that the focus is all on being competitive for the 2024 season. However, the W14 continues to be a mystery despite all the sacrifices that Hamilton made. He recently insisted that the car is still difficult to drive, but not as difficult as last year’s car. 

Speaking to the media, Lewis Hamilton said, “I’ve managed to be a lot more consistent this year, I think with the set-ups. But then you look at the last two races [in the Netherlands and Italy]. It started good in FP1 and then it really fell off for the rest of the weekend. So it’s not an easy car to navigate. But it’s something we’re constantly learning about and constantly trying to do better as engineers and as a driver.”

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The data collected this season will be used for the next year’s car. But if the car remains a mystery, Mercedes will probably have to overhaul the concept and start all over again. And this isn’t the only year Hamilton made the sacrifices. The Briton experienced something similar last year as well.

Lewis Hamilton made sacrifices last year as well to improve the car

Remember how Lewis Hamilton finished behind George Russell during the 2022 season? While many believed Russell’s excellence and Hamilton’s slack to be responsible for it, Hamilton actually sacrificed many races and sessions just to gather the data around the problem with the W13. The outcome was less than optimal race results.

According to Talksport, Ross Brawn said, “He’s [Lewis Hamilton] probably sacrificing the races to try to get the information and data the team can use to solve the problem. That’s the feedback I get from the team, while George is following a more conventional path… and Lewis is trying to set out to solve the problem.”

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What do you make of Lewis Hamilton’s sacrifice? Will the Briton and Mercedes be able to bounce back next year?