Follow usLewis Hamilton claimed that Mercedes failed to listen to his advice during the developement of the new 2023 Mercedes F1 car, which could only manage an unspectaculiar 5th and 7th place finish in season opener in Bahrain.
Not only the Red Bull finished a dominant 1-2, with the Mercedes due trailing by over 50 second from leader Max Verstappen at the end, but the Silver Arrows found themselves outpaced by the resurgant Aston Martin with Hamilton and Russel losing out to Alonso and Stroll, respectively.
It was a disappointing weekend for Hamilton, who complained before the season-opening race that the team were not in the right track. The result seems to have rubbed a salt into the wound, as the British veteran renewed his public criticism of his team.
“Last year, there were things I told them. I said the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton told BBC
“I’ve driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn’t need.
“I think it’s really about accountability,” the 38-year-old added. “It’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? We didn’t listen to you. It’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’”.
“We’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team. That’s what we do,” Hamilton added. “We’re still [multiple] world champions … just haven’t got it right this time. Didn’t get it right last year. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get it right moving forwards.”
Mercedes’ team principal, Toto Wolff, admitted in Bahrain that the Silver Arrows, who won eight consecutive constructors’ championships prior to last season, will have to abandon their controversial “zero-sidepod” concept in order to challenge again as most of the grid have followed the design philosophy pioneered by Red Bull last year when Verstappen dominated
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