Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

F1 bosses 'don't know what they're trying to solve' - Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton says the planned new regulations for 2017 highlight a lack of understanding from F1's bosses.

Regulations are being drawn up to make F1 cars faster and more aggressive-looking from next year, with an initial target of reducing lap times by five seconds. However, while Hamilton is a supporter of radical change within the sport, he says the knowledge he has of the current plans shows a lack of a clear direction.

"Obviously something does need to change because Formula 1 has been the same for a long, long time," Hamilton told Sky Sports. "I know they're talking about giving us more aerodynamics [in 2017] which for me is the worst idea. It just shows that, for me, they don't really know what they're trying to solve.

"From the driver's point of view, we want more grip from the tyres; we want less wake coming from the car so therefore we can get closer."

While he feels it is clear what F1 should be working towards, Hamilton admits it is a difficult problem to fix.

"When you're racing a guy, whoever is in front the guy in front has 100% potential of the aerodynamics and the guy behind the closer he gets his potential deteriorates. So then the advantage he did have when he was catching you initially disappears as he gets closer and closer, which shouldn't be the case.

"So, we need better tyres, better grip from our tyres, we need more mechanical grip and ultimately it might not mean that we need less aerodynamics but we need less wake so the car behind doesn't have that turbulence if possible. I don't even know if that's possible."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.