Lewis Hamilton says he has “full faith” in Mercedes’ ability to field a competitive car in 2024 after assessing its W15 design at the team’s factory this week.
For the first time since 2011, Mercedes ended its campaign in Formula 1 without a single win to its credit, while Hamilton concluded his second consecutive season without a victory to his name.
Mercedes continued to struggle to get to grips with F1’s ground effect regulations that were introduced in 2022. While its W14 contender improved over the course of the season, the car remained an inconsistent proposition for its drivers.
As the 2023 season drew to a close, Mercedes remained optimistic about their prospects for 2024. Armed with their experience and the many lessons derived from this year’s car, the team’s engineers are now hard at work devising the all-new machine that will hopefully allow the German outfit to return to its winning ways.
Ahead of Friday’s FIA prize-giving ceremony in Baku and before heading into a salutary winter break, Hamilton dropped in for a final series of debriefs with his crews in Brackley and Brixworth.
"I've been very busy,,” he said on Friday in Azerbaijan. “It's been a long, long year, but just tying up all the loose ends, working with the team.
“I was at the team yesterday just thanking everyone for the amazing work they've done throughout the year. It's a special time of the year, you’re winding down and you're seeing where we're going next.”
As he toured Mercedes’ various departments and chatted with his engineers and personnel, the seven-time world champion found his crews in a positive mindset.
"The mood is very positive,” he added. “I think all the members in the team are incredibly grateful to have got second in the constructors' given the challenges that we faced this season. And so it's always quite emotional.
“And I've been with the team for such a long time, but every time you go back to Brixworth and Brackley, and you're reminded of just how big a team is pushing you forward from behind.
“And you see every individual, some people that are new to the team that have joined whilst I've been here, and some that have been way before, and also some that have worked on my engine since my first Grand Prix in F1. It's amazing to see just the progress and the growth.
“And also our team is becoming more and more diverse, which has been really pleasing for me to see, that we are moving in the right direction."
No visit at Brackley would have been complete without dropping by the team’s wind tunnel facility to get an exclusive peek at the ongoing development of Mercedes’ 2024 design, although a work in progress is always a difficult exercise.
"I think it's always difficult,” he said. “I'm not an engineer or a designer. So it's not easy. It's always the exciting time of the year because I have seen the car in the wind tunnel, I always go by the wind tunnel when I go to the factory, to see it evolving in whichever direction it ends up going.
“Literally when I was leaving yesterday again I popped in just to see where we were, and when I come back, it will be again a different animal.
“I have full faith in everyone that's working on it. And I'm hopeful that we will be in a much more competitive position next year."
In hindsight, despite Mercedes’ shortfall in 2023 in terms of results, Hamilton is proud of how the former championship winning outfit tackled its challenges and what it accomplished.
“There are ups and downs within all seasons, and there were ups and downs,” he acknowledged.
“And from the moment we started driving the car at Silverstone, realising that we're probably not going to be fighting for a championship, and then just refocusing and resetting your goals, and then working towards catching up.
“I think it's just really pleasing to see that we never gave up, and no one in the team gave up. Everyone stayed positive, and just how everyone showed up was super encouraging for me.
“I think we're all always learning more about just appreciating the moment, appreciating each and every single individual in the team and those results we're getting, and when we finally get a podium, we appreciate it perhaps more than ever before.
“And I think obviously [pole in] Budapest was the highlight, a track that I love. And to somehow dethrone the Red Bull for a single moment gave us a lot of hope, knowing that if we just keep pushing, we may get there."
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