Lewis Hamilton sends message to Toto Wolff as Mercedes ‘miles off’ at Saudi Arabian GP

Following yet another challenging performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton was left feeling frustrated.

Following his only P9 finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has declared that “big changes” are required from the Mercedes team.

Hamilton had hoped to continue in Jeddah following a lackluster start to the campaign in Bahrain, but an audacious early strategy call left the legendary British driver facing an uphill battle.

Mercedes made the decision to hold Hamilton in the safety car following Lance Stroll’s early crash. He was in P3, behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who also did not pit, when the field moved through.

In an attempt to generate a greater tire offset in the final stages, Norris and Hamilton ran incredibly long after the safety cars stopped. This tactic, though, proved ineffective, as the seven-time world champion finished ninth.

“I mean, the car is good, or relatively good in the low-speed [corners] and not so bad in the medium [speed corners], but in the high speed we are miles off,” Hamilton said in an analysis of his race with Sky Sports F1.

“It’s annoying to be in essentially the same spot for three years in a row; it felt like I was in a different league when I was racing against the other guys around me.

It’s undoubtedly difficult, but we’ll put our heads down and keep at it. We absolutely need to make some significant changes, even though I know everyone at the factory is doing everything they can to push.

Maybe we haven’t changed things enough. The three teams in front of us still have ideas that differ from ours in a few key areas. We therefore definitely need to add some performance.”

After two races, Hamilton had hoped to wrap up his 12-year Mercedes contract in style in 2024. However, the Silver Arrows now seem to be the fourth-fastest package behind Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren.

In the Drivers’ Championship standings, the seven-time world champion is in P9, while in the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes leads McLaren by just two points.