Hamilton being ‘rewarded’ for Mercedes pain; as Lewis Hamilton says he is set for daunting return after….
Lewis Hamilton has endured a period of difficulty at Mercedes since the introduction of new technical regulations but has now found himself back to winning ways.
Lewis Hamilton is being “rewarded” for his time spent experimenting with Mercedes’ set-ups across the last two seasons, according to ex-IndyCar driver and F1 pundit James Hinchcliffe.
Mercedes struggled for performance when new technical regulations came into play in 2022 and has only recently improved itself back into a consistent front-running position.
Hamilton is the only driver bar Max Verstappen to win multiple grands prix in the opening 14 races of the season.
The seven-time world champion was known to undertake radical set-up changes over the last handful of years in a bid to offer Mercedes a deeper understanding of the car – Hinchcliffe believes he is now reaping the benefits.
“After two winless seasons (incredibly, the first in his F1 career), Hamilton has secured two victories in the first half of the year, second only to Verstappen in terms of number of wins,” Hinchliffe told F1.com.
“And while teammate George Russell leads him in the qualifying head-to-head eight to six, his average starting place is actually a few spots higher.
“As the team starts to get a grasp on the tricky W15, Hamilton has been rewarded for his years of trying unorthodox setups and guiding the team’s development direction finally has a machine that allows him to remind the world why he’s one of the best to have ever driven in Formula 1.”
The ongoing campaign is Hamilton’s final with Mercedes before he departs for Ferrari, where he will partner Charles Leclerc on a multi-year deal.
Hinchcliffe commended Hamilton for retaining his motivation to perform despite having the prospect of his seismic move to the Italian squad facing him.
“The seven-time champion came into this season in unusual circumstances, having already announced his departure to Ferrari at the end of this year,” he added.
“It would almost be understandable if his motivation had waned slightly and he was counting the days until his tenure with Mercedes ended. Almost.
“But that isn’t the way Hamilton operates and not they way he wants to wrap up the most successful team/driver pairing in the history of Formula 1.”
FURTHER READING:
Lewis Hamilton set for daunting return after summer break as Damon Hill sheds light
Lewis Hamilton’s form has been strong heading into the summer break, but he faces new challenges beyond the Dutch Grand Prix.
Damon Hill believes that Lewis Hamilton’s current level of form might be unsustainable after the summer break. Mercedes will naturally lean towards favouring George Russell with his team-mate’s move to Ferrari fast approaching.
Hamilton’s 2024 campaign has been a clear split between before and after the Monaco Grand Prix. In his first eight starts of the year, the Brit failed to record a top-five finish, sparking questions about his ability to extract performance from the ground-effect F1 cars.
However, after a promising improvement in Montreal, Hamilton found his groove. The first podium of the season arrived in Spain before the seven-time world champion ended a 945-day wait for a race victory at the British Grand Prix. In doing so, he became the only man to win at the same track on nine occasions.
Then, after finishing best of the rest behind the McLarens in Hungary, Hamilton snatched another victory after team-mate Russell was disqualified in Belgium. The 39-year-old’s revival may be cut short though, with Mercedes needing to prevent him from taking key information to Ferrari in 2025.
“They don’t want to show any insights that he might take to Ferrari particularly so it may be he’s deprived of a little bit more information than he’s liked in the past, but they are an honourable team, Mercedes and I think Toto is an honourable person.
“I think that he’ll always be treated fairly within the team, but there’s only so much you can give away, isn’t there, when you’ve got a guy leaving? It’s not like a technical person who when they leave a team they have to go on gardening leave and they can’t join a team until the following year or something like that.
“The drivers can go from day one to the next team the moment their contract has expired. The trouble is drivers are not necessarily privy to all of the technical things that happen.
“And in any case, they probably wouldn’t understand because it’s highly technical and you only have to speak to some of the engineers in the sport to know that there is a need to understand very complex technical things which very few drivers can do.”
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