F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Teases "Exciting" Changes Coming To Mercedes W14 - "Real Progress"

The 7-time champion is excited for upgrades coming later this season that should make a real change to Mercedes' performance.

Lewis Hamilton has been pushing for "fundamental changes" to be made to the Mercedes W14 car design for more than a year now, according to the driver.  But with development finally turning a corner, the driver is "excited" for what's to come later this season.

The team has struggled to adapt to the new era of ground effect aerodynamics introduced in Formula 1 since the 2022 season. Rather than contending for titles, Mercedes has been playing catch-up to Red Bull, and now Aston Martin.

Mercedes' troubles were evident at the Bahrain Grand Prix as they quickly identified the gap in performance between them and the likes of Red Bull and newcomer to the front of the grid, Aston Martin. It was later revealed that the 7-time champion had demanded changes to the car ahead of this which weren't made. And even now, after a change of concept for release at the Monaco Grand Prix, both Hamilton and his teammate George Russell are struggling to reach podium finishes. 

Now, on the weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis has revealed his annoyance with his team after he was asked if they're on the right track.

"Yeah, finally!" he said. “We brought a lot of upgrades last year, and we did make some progress.

“But we found with this generation of car, adding performance was not easy. When you added performance in the wind tunnel, it looked like it was real performance.

“But then you put them on the car, and the car would bounce more. And so finally this year, we’re starting to make changes to the car that actually do improve the car, and don’t add more bouncing.

“We’ve taken a step in the right direction. But I don’t think we’ve completely got to where we are going in terms of that direction.

“I think we’re still turning. But we’ve got progress, real, real progress that’s coming over the next coming months, which is really exciting to see.

“So yeah, I can’t wait. And just in terms of being in the car, I’m starting to feel more confident in it. So finally feeling more like a race car.”

Continuing on a somewhat more pessimistic level, he said:

“Ultimately, there are fundamental changes that have to change for next year.

“And I’ve been asking for it for over a year. So I expect to have that in future, which I think will definitely help.

“But it’s not only that, it’s the rear end, and how it rotates through a corner. But we’re working on that, and the team are very, very focused on that.

“I think we’ve got some progress coming over the coming months, which will help also help rectify that. So I’m excited.”

While Red Bull will likely be unbeatable this season, Mercedes are clearly realigning their efforts in an attempt to fight for the world title next year. But with every other team hunting for the same outcome, and Aston Martin showing us what improvements can be made with the right people behind development, it's anyone's game right now.