Lewis Hamilton has finally had enough of his Mercedes W14 after a disappointing Sprint race in Brazil where his declines were not prevented by the team’s upgrades.
“Counting down the days” to the day Lewis Hamilton won’t have to drive his Mercedes W14 in competition.
Since the beginning of the year, the seven-time world champion has voiced his disapproval of the car’s erratic behavior. However, following improvements at the US GP two weeks ago, he was feeling lot better about it.
However, the British driver was brought back to reality during the Sprint race in Brazil. Following a rapid start, he overheated his tires and lost ground to finish seventh, two positions behind where he had started, during the remainder of the afternoon’s competition.
And it appears that Hamilton’s frustration with the W14 was the last straw. He told reporters, “We’ve been excited that we’re progressing over the last couple of races, and it’s been really positive to see.”
“And you reach a different track, where you experience the worst deg you’ve had in a very long time. It seems as though you have no idea what to anticipate from this one. But I’ll be happy if I can just drive this car in a few more races before it disappears!
He continued, saying of the Sprint itself: “It was an extremely difficult race. We had a solid start, in my opinion, and then balance. The rear tires simply gave out as we struggled to maintain the proper balance with the wing and a lot of understeer and snap oversteer. And severe understeer in the mid-sector.
“I’m not sure if our setup was incorrect. Although the setup was probably incorrect, it is what it is. We probably have one of the most clunky vehicles. We have to have a really large wing because our floor isn’t as strong as, say, the Red Bull, and we’re just slow on the straight. There’s nothing smaller we can use.”
In a separate interview, he ruled out his chances of ending his long victory drought on Sunday. “It’s going to be a long afternoon, that’s for sure,” he said. “It is what it is. I’ll fight as hard as I can [in the Grand Prix], but I won’t be winning that’s for sure. I’ll just be trying to manage the tyres a bit better.”
Team principal Toto Wolff called it “a bruising day” for his Mercedes team. “We pushed very hard at the beginning, the car was not balanced right and then you put in some sliding and it just killed the tyres,” he explained.
“I don’t think there is a magic screw you can turn and then everything is fixed. It was very odd. Everything went against us today. We need to really scratch our heads hard about what we can do to improve. Today wasn’t good.”
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