F1 | Hamilton attacks Mercedes: "It's absurd that they didn't listen to me"

Sakhir's fifth place was a rather indigestible starter to the season at home Mercedes, and above all for Lewis Hamilton. At the end of 2022, the seven-time British world champion said he was relieved to be able to say goodbye to the W13 definitively, going so far as to declare "I never want to drive a car like this again".

Unfortunately, however, the winter work at Brackley does not seem to have yielded the desired results, the technical group led by Mike Elliot (for some the technical director is in fact now under examination), insisted on the same philosophy of the 2022 car, with the W14 which doesn't jump like a kangaroo like its progenitor, but which still worryingly lacks aerodynamic load.

Una disappointment which Hamilton is unable to swallow and which led the Englishman to a real outburst against his team on the BBC microphones. Words that will cause discussion and which in any case give an idea of ​​the less than idyllic climate that can be felt at Mercedes these days. It cannot be ruled out that the recipient of Hamilton's words is the director Elliot himself. Thinking of a parallel with the other great disappointment Ferrari, it is appropriate to say that if Athens cries, Sparta does not laugh.

“Last season I told the team what all the problems were with the car, I think I've driven enough cars over the course of my career to know what a car needs to go fast – Hamilton's words - At this point someone needs to take responsibility, they have to admit that they didn't listen to me, that they designed a car that doesn't behave as it should and that they have to work hard. We are a winning team, in these two years we have not managed to build a valid single-seater, we must succeed in the future".