Hamilton: “Biding my time” in wait for quicker Mercedes F1 car

Hamilton hasn’t won a race since he lost the world championship to Max Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi finale in 2021, and he’s endured two tough seasons with difficult cars.

However, he insists that the process of trying to improve both the machinery and the team itself has helped to keep him sharp for when Mercedes can give him a car that’s capable of winning on merit.

“I don't think it's particularly difficult, because there's always areas that you can improve,” he said when asked where the drive came from after such a barren patch. “[We’re] just working on fine-tuning how we work in the background.

“We're constantly trying to improve our processes, we're continuously making adjustments. It's improving our communication in the background, making sure the heads of departments are getting the real information through.

“And deep diving on to certain subjects, whether it's bouncing, whether it's car characteristics, through corner balances, all these sorts of things.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W14

Photo by: Erik Junius

Confident the homework he has done will pay dividends on next year's W15, Hamilton added: “I've had more time to be able to focus on that with the team than ever before. And generally, be even more hands-on in the direction that we're going with the car next year.

“And when I step away, just making sure that I'm fit and mentally in the right place for when the car is right. And so hold on to that.

“Fortunately, I've got these other things that keep me motivated as well, which tap into the whole ecosystem. Like the [Brad Pitt] movie for example. So yeah, I'm just biding my time."

Hamilton says that the team is still gathering data about the W14 that can feed into making next year’s car better.

"We're always learning more and more about the characteristics, the airflow, how the car works in cross winds, how it works in the high, medium and slow speed corners, how you work with the tyres,” he said.

“High-downforce, mid-downforce, low-downforce settings. So you're constantly learning, there's constantly data being delivered and analysed, and I'm learning more every time we get in the car.

“We're learning more about how we can use the engine differently, and how we can use the fuel. So you always learn."