Final F1 season, Lewis Hamilton battled to the top for the title. This 12 months, the British driver goes by a extra difficult season. Sixth within the general standings, the Mercedes driver has already mentioned goodbye to the Method 1 title, however can nonetheless hope for podium finishes and maybe even a win. And to attain this, Lewis Hamilton has despatched a transparent message to his crew together with a really sturdy demand for subsequent 12 months’s automotive, detailing precisely what he wants.
Final 12 months, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had a sensational duel all through the F1 season. The seven-time world champion got here again to a tie simply earlier than the beginning of the ultimate Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi, however did not get previous the Crimson Bull driver on the ultimate lap. This 12 months, nonetheless, it’s utterly completely different.
Whereas Verstappen continues to be going sturdy and is effectively on his option to successful his second consecutive world Method 1 drivers championship, Lewis Hamilton has been out of the working for a very long time with a poor automotive and, definitely originally of the season, questionable driving prowess with the looks of a demotivated ‘no 1’ for his crew.
It should be mentioned that the seven-time world champion has had a really troublesome begin to the season, notably due to the brand new laws launched by the FIA. A change that goals to cap the price range of the groups as a way to cut back the hole between the completely different groups and tighten the race for the title. This has had a serious affect on Mercedes’ automotive design.
Originally of the 12 months, in addition to ground that produced excessive bouncing, the German crew needed to take care of various issues with its tyres, which shortly compromised Hamilton’s possibilities of successful the title. However these days issues have been a lot better, with the British driver even ending second on the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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If Hamilton is now sixth general, he can nonetheless hope to complete within the high 3 if the celebs align. And if he has been in a position to bounce again on this method, additionally it is as a result of Mercedes has proven nice reliability, in contrast to Ferrari for instance. Certainly, the German crew’s drivers have completed each race this season, except the British Grand Prix.
Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton is asking for extra:
“We’re nonetheless missing efficiency, that’s what’s troublesome. I believe this automotive has potential, however we needed to cut back the facility to forestall bouncing. We’ve superb reliability, however we are able to’t rely upon reliability eternally to be on the rostrum,
“We actually want efficiency,” Hamilton advised new Finnish channel Viaplay advisor Heikki Kovalainen, his former McLaren teammate, in an interview.
Lewis Hamilton is hopeful of a powerful end to the season, however he additionally hopes Mercedes could make the mandatory adjustments for subsequent 12 months:
“I actually suppose there’s the potential to win races, and I hope each weekend, each week, that they discover one thing that provides us just a little bit extra aero help with out the trouble,
“It’s a tough factor for the crew to do, however no one provides up. We’ve to confess that the others have carried out a greater job; their philosophy, no matter it’s, is working effectively,
“We’ve to concentrate on that and transfer on. We will’t be cussed and say “no, the way in which we do issues must be proper and it’ll work out”, as a result of we may look forward to years! We’ve to be fast, concise, humble in our strategy. I believe we will likely be.”
Hamilton then went on to place stress on his crew, with some sturdy messages about how issues are inside Mercedes, and the way he wants them to vary for subsequent 12 months:
“The conversations behind the scenes… You understand how the engineers are, there’s a variety of delight in all people’s work, and that’s respectable. I actually hope we are able to get a win this 12 months, I actually consider in it. However a win isn’t sufficient for us, that’s not what we work for,
“Hopefully we will likely be in a very good place for subsequent 12 months. In the mean time, after I speak to the crew, I inform them what I don’t need and what I want subsequent 12 months on this automotive. I’m attempting to indicate them the way in which to verify they ship that subsequent 12 months.”
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