Lewis Hamilton was clear about his dissatisfaction with last year’s approach at Mercedes, but 2024 will be different for the Silver Arrows.
There were very early warning signs that Mercedes were going to struggle with the W14. Many of these originated from pre-season when the lap times from pre-season testing did little to flatter the 2023 challenger.
After just one race in Bahrain, the Silver Arrows realised their miscalculation. The decision was quickly taken to abandon the “zeropod” concept, which proved to have reached its ceiling.
Nevertheless, Mercedes could not implement their new ideas immediately. Even then, adopting a more conventional design was never going to solve all of their problems.
This was reflected in the German outfit’s performance last season, which only partially recovered after more conventional sidepods arrived in Monaco.
There were also other impacts to the team’s mistaken development path, which impacted Lewis Hamilton most significantly.
Hamilton’s input taken into account for 2024
In order to accommodate their radical sidepod design, Mercedes F1 began last season with an odd eating position. Simply put, the W14’s seat was further forward than in most cars – which was necessary to accommodate the car’s shape.
However, this position is not what Lewis Hamilton normally prefers. The 7-time Champion requested a more conventional position, but this was not granted until after Mercedes pursued a new philosophy.
A more conventional seating position arrived along with the W14’s more conventional sidepods, which gave Hamilton a better feeling in the car. As seen throughout the year, the British driver became happier with the car’s balance than in 2022.
According to a recent report, Mercedes will retain will keep their seat further back for 2024. This will give Lewis Hamilton more feeling with the rear of the car, which should allow him to extract more performance.
As usual, progressing in Formula 1 relies on balancing theoretical data with on-track feedback. James Allison and his technical team have clearly understood this, changing their approach and responding to previous failings.
The Brackley-based team certainly won’t have the same understanding of Red Bull with this overall philosophy.
Still, the last twelve months should give them a better chance to introduce the large-scale changes needed to challenge for wins.
