hamilton change the speech after testing the Mercedes in free practice. From the “we will win at some point in the season” that came out of the presentation to a worrying negativity around the W14. “We have discovered that we are very far away. We already knew that in the tests, somehow, but it is a very big disadvantage. I’m trying as hard as I can, but this is what it is and we have to work with what we have”, said the seven-time English champion as he got out of the car.
Better one lap or long runs? “Nothing. They are quite similar. With Red Bull, in their long runs they are a second faster. We have a lot to work on. I’ve got as much pace as I can in this car. We can tune here and there but they will be thousandths. We are not going to recover a second. But we continue working, we want to progress”, he summarized
In addition, he finds himself with a new rival in the noble zone of the grid: “I thought that Ferrari had the second car, in the long run we are quite close but It seems that Aston is second and we are third and fourth. More or less like we were last year. It’s difficult for everyone, nobody on the team wants this and this team doesn’t deserve to be like this. We work very hard and focus on the process but we are going the wrong way.”
In any case, Sir Lewis now looks farther from the head than a year ago, when Mercedes lost its way with the W13: “There was progress last year, but the disadvantage was not as big as it is now. Can we close this gap? I think it’s very difficult.” A major evolution in aerodynamics (and new sidepods) is expected for the car in a few races, but it’s never a good sign to talk about improvements before the first race.
