Lewis Hamilton says the upgrades to his Mercedes do not "feel like a huge difference" to his car compared to the beginning of the year. Mercedes brought their first upgrades to the W14 in Monaco, with a more conventional sidepod design and a revised floor. The team achieved a double podium on merit at the Spanish Grand Prix, with George Russell showing that he was capable of working his way through the field. In Canada, Hamilton was able to fend off Fernando Alonso for a few laps after a better start, but ultimately had to give best to the Spaniard and settle for third. "In truth, it doesn't feel a huge difference to the beginning of the year. There are some elements of the car which do feel different and obviously with the upgrade but it's just simply just have a little bit more downforce on the car," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . "But the characteristics of the car are very, very similar to what we had earlier on in the year. For the next year's car, you need to take a lot of these different things off and change them for sure."
Hamilton: Not a car that can challenge Red Bull yet
The Mercedes driver added that there are still some characteristics the team needs to work on with the W14 before they can challenge Red Bull. "It's definitely not the car that characteristic-wise that's going to be able to beat the Red Bull just yet, and so we've got to work on that." Even though many of the teams have addressed the porpoising phenomenon that occurred early on into the 2022 regulation change, the cars still run stiff suspension which leads to a "bumpy" experience down the straights, according to Hamilton. "For example, it was very bumpy, this track, and I think everyone was struggling, but our car was very stiff. But I think we were all struggling with the stiffness of our cars. "Today was bumpy. I would say that's something I dislike most about this generation of cars. Back in the day was smooth down the straight."
Most read
