Lewis Hamilton has outlined the two main features of Mercedes' 2022 F1 car that they hope to bring to their 2023 challenger. The Silver Arrows faced a difficult season with the W13, which struggled to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari while being affected by issues such as porpoising. As such, team boss Toto Wolff previously joked that the vehicle may not exactly take pride of place in the squad's collection of past Formula 1 cars , with it most likely being relegated to the "very far back". While Hamilton similarly hopes to see change in the W14, he acknowledges that there are two strengths of its predecessor that the team hope to carry over.
Hamilton on W13's best features
"The only thing that we would want to keep would be that our long-run pace was very strong last year," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.com , when asked if there were any characteristics he hoped to keep from the W13. "Our race pace was always stronger, so I would say that's probably the only element that we really want to carry on into this season. "And also reliability, so those two [features] are the things I think that we definitely want to hold on to. "But all the other stuff we want to reinvent, redesign, and hopefully see a more efficient car."
Hamilton has 'full trust' in development plan
In terms of the development plan for the W14, Hamilton has confidence in what the team can do. "Everyone in the team wants to win," the seven-time World Champion explained. "There is a strategy, there is a development plan. It's been explained to us in detail and I have full trust in the team. "But it's not until we get the car on the road and we figure out what it's doing and where the limitations are [that we can] then steer the rudder and develop in that direction. "The great thing is [that] we've got two strong drivers and we have similar kind of driving styles, so it'll be clear straightaway – if there are issues – what those will be. "I think the guys understand the car much more to be able to deal with it, but [I'm] excited."
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