Lewis Hamilton says ‘Mercedes did not listen to him’ as he raises concerns over his F1 car´s performance

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton raises concerns about his underperforming Mercedes F1 car claiming the 2023 model ‘was not the right car’ 

After placing fifth during the Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula One champion Lweis Hamilton has said spoken about how the 2023 model has not been performing well.  

Hamilton, who finished over 50 seconds behind the race leader Max Verstappen from Red Bull said that “Mercedes did not listen to him”, during the development of this year’s Formula One car.  

“Last year, there were things I told them. I said the issues that are with the car,” said Hamilton during the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast.

He added, “I’ve driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn’t need”.  

The 38-year-old driver also said “I think it’s really about accountability, t’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? We didn’t listen to you. It’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work”,  

“We’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team. That’s what we do,” Hamilton continued, adding “We’re still multiple world champions … just haven’t got it right this time. Didn’t get it right last year. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get it right moving forwards.” 

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff, the Team Principal & CEO of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team as cited by the Guardian also admitted to the problems and said that they will “have to abandon their controversial zero-sidepod concept in order to challenge again”.  

Wolff said, “We have lost a year in development,”, adding “In order to have a steeper development curve, you just need to take these decisions”.  

“Aston Martin took that decision, and they came back strong. If we start from our base, maybe we can come back strong and chase the Red Bulls, that’s the ambition”, he stated.  

The next Formula One race is now set to take place in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 19, followed by the Australian Grand Prix on April 2.

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