F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Down After Upgrades - "Not What We Were Hoping For"

Lewis Hamilton isn't feeling overly happy with the upgrades made to the Mercedes W14.

As the 2023 Formula 1 season progresses, Lewis Hamilton has candidly admitted that the Mercedes upgrade isn't the "improvement that we had dreamed of" as he readies himself for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

Mercedes made the choice to change their W14's concept after struggling since the season opener in Bahrain with their 'zero-pod' concept. This led to a shift in strategy as the team make the sacrifice to uproot their car in an attempt to fight for second place in the championship.

The newly upgraded W14 was first seen in Monaco with a significant change to their sidepod design as well as new floor fences and a new front suspension. With obvious design hints from the Red Bull RB19, the Brackley squad will be wanting to see notable improvements in their machinery. 

Unfortunately, Lewis Hamilton seems a little disappointed with the outcome of these upgrades, admitting that it's not what he was hoping for:

 “Well, it’s not the step forward that we were hoping for, the true step forward we’re hoping for is, there’s been around a one-second delta [to Red Bull] in race trim, for example.

“We haven’t covered that with this step, but it is a step in the right direction.

“What I felt last weekend was I felt a little bit more confident in the car, more ability to be able to commit to the corner.

“So, I’m hoping that at this track, that’s the same, but hopefully better.

“There’s a lot of medium and high-speed corners. I’m hoping the flow of the car is better [here]. Maybe in following, we can follow closer.

“There’s a huge amount of work that’s gone into this and we’re hoping that it puts us on the right track.

“We’re changing train tracks. But putting us on the track that can lead to that second.

“When you bring upgrades, naturally you should be progressing forwards and the fact is it is an improvement, it’s just not the improvement that we had dreamed of.

“But it’s one step at a time. I don’t feel any negativity towards it. I’m grateful we have it. Partly, it’s because I understand how much work has gone into making these parts.

“The rush that has gone on, the amount of work, everyone is hugely flat out and really hungry to move the car in the right direction.

“So, I would say that I’m just hopeful that it puts us on a better track that can progress from here on.”

Monaco wasn't the ideal place to test these updates' effectiveness, with the original plan to introduce these changes in Imola. Of course, due to that race weekend being cancelled, they were unable to do this. The Spanish Grand Prix is very different, however, with the track being a former test track for the sport. This means Mercedes will have plenty of opportunity to assess their performance going forward. 

Meanwhile, Aston Martin and Ferrari, Mercedes' close rivals, are also set to reveal upgraded cars in Barcelona. Hamilton said the updated W14 would have been “quite close” for pace with these two challengers, but he is “still hopeful that we can compete with them this weekend”.