16/03/2023
NEWS STORY
Effectively writing off the 2023 season, Lewis Hamilton admits that Mercedes best hope is for the Red Bulls, Ferraris and even Aston Martins not to finish.
The Briton was speaking at today's FIA press conference, just days after he claimed that the German team failed to listen to his advice regarding the W14's predecessor, and two weeks after Toto Wolff admitted that Mercedes effectively has to return to the drawing board.
Admitting that the W14 is around 1.5s off the pace of the Red Bull, the seven-time world champion said: "Last year we were very draggy, we were struggling not only on the straights, but we had to take a much bigger wing and we were equalling if not losing in the corners as well. This year it's mostly through the corners. Down the streets we're quick, but on exits these guys have a lot of rear end through the majority of the corners.
"So, I think in the race they weren't pushing and I think they're a lot quicker than they even seemed," he continued. "We have it as them being a second and a half faster in the race per lap or something like that.
"We need these Red Bulls not to finish the race, the Ferraris not to finish the race, and maybe now the Aston Martins not to finish the race, for us to be winning at the moment," he laughed. "But that doesn't mean we can't catch them up."
Referring to his subsequent claim that the team hadn't listened to him in terms of the shortcomings of the W13 which were carried over, he said: "In hindsight, it wasn't necessarily the best choice of words.
"But of course, there are times where you're not in agreement with certain team members," he added. "What's important is that we continue to communicate, we continue to pull together, I still have 100% belief in this team."
As to the decision to continue with the controversial zero-sidepod concept, he said: "I knew that we weren't in the right place when you saw the car for the first time. It looked still so much different to those of our competitors and it's always nerve-racking in that moment.
"We've got to now start making some bold decisions," he admitted, "some big moves in order to close the gap to these guys.
"They (Red Bull) will run away with it most likely this year, unless Ferrari can probably stop them, but hopefully at some point during the year we are hopeful we might be able to close the gap.
"At that point, it'll be probably too late in terms of fighting for a championship, but we could still turn some heads."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Jeddah here.