Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has recently shared his struggles with the Mercedes W15, noting an unprecedented level of conflict with the car. In an interview on the ‘Hot Ones’ YouTube show, he detailed the vehicle’s lack of responsiveness and balance, which has significantly impacted his performance this season.
Lewis Hamilton, one of Formula One’s most decorated drivers, has openly expressed his frustrations with the Mercedes W15, revealing a daunting challenge with the car’s responsiveness and balance on the popular YouTube series ‘Hot Ones.’
Currently eighth in the driver standings and struggling to secure high finishes, his difficulties are symptomatic of broader issues within the Mercedes team, which has traditionally dominated the F1 landscape but has struggled during the current ground-effect era. The battle against leading teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren has intensified, with Mercedes lagging behind.
When asked when he is most ant conflict with the car, the Mercedes driver humorously remarked:
“Right now! At the moment, it’s every second.”
He continued:
“Probably at the beginning of the race. When you’re on heavy into fuel, you can’t go 100%. You can’t do qualifying laps every lap. So you have to pull back and try to hit the corners a little bit slower to go longer.”
Despite the recent comments from Hamilton, he has previously noted that the W15 is a step-up from the dreaded W13 and W14. He commented to Autosport in April:
“It’s amazing to see how close everyone is. I think George’s position is a real testament [to] just how amazing the job is [that] everyone’s done at the factory, and [they have] finally given us a car that we can fight with.
“I just wasn’t able to utilise that today when I made that set-up change. I put something on the car that we haven’t put on for the last two years.
“And I was hoping that it would be okay. And I just stuck with it. I was like, I’m just going to stick with it. And yeah, it wasn’t nice to drive.”
He continued:
“The car is really fantastic. It’s really a real big improvement from previous years. A lot more stable, a lot more fun to drive.
“But we still have work to do, as you can see, but for George to be three-tenths off Red Bull – or off Max [Verstappen] – is incredible. It shows what’s possible.
“And I think we’ve just got to really just continue to add performance. And I mean, if that’s our platform from here, we can definitely chase through the rest of the season.”