Lewis Hamilton told “excuses must stop - decision-making has to be questioned”
Concern shared that Lewis Hamilton's tinkeringꦿ with set-up could impact Mercedes' long-term development
Lewis Hamilton h𒈔as been told his “excuses must stop”.
🌳The Mercedes driver saw last we🀅ekend’s F1 Chinese Grand Prix deteriorate as he made set-up changes to his W15.
Hamilton excဣellent in sprint qualifying and in the sprint race before, he said, making “making changes” to his car before an er🧸ror ruined qualifying for the grand prix.
He started from 18th ไand finished in P9, but has now been questioned by 𒊎a former F1 technical director.
Gary Anderson - who most notably worked at the Jordan F1 ♋team - wrote in that Hamilton’s “excuses must stop at some poin𝓡t”.
Hamilton was warned that Mercedes have “a fundam♌ental problem” and “no amount of set-up changes wꦛill fix it”.
So, Hamilton’s desperate search for a tweak which will take him to the front of F1 is destined to fai♔l, Anderson wrote.
Moreಞ concerningly, the ex-F1 car designer insisted that the “decision-making process on Hamilton’s side of the garage has to be questioned”.
It was noted that Hamilton took responsibility for th𓄧e set-up changes to his car, but it was questioned who was involved.
A group including “key engineers” and perhaps even team principal Toto Wolff should have been involved,🎉 Anderson insists.
He also claimed that changes to the W15 are “probably not as wild as [Hamilton] would have ♕u♛s believe”.
The three small areas of significant c♑hange to ground-effect era F1 cars were listed as “ride height, spring st💛iffness and front and rear wing aerodynamic balance”.
And Hamilton was reminded that no set-up change will greatly improve a car’s fundamental base-line, but they could 𝕴drastically misalign its balance.
Hamilton “does꧃ not seem willing to accept the reality” of the W15 and is being led “astray” by set-up tweaks, Anderson wrote.
His tinkering will impact the Mercedes in 2025 and beyond, when Hamilton will no longer be with ไthe team, it has been🌜 warned.
Constant changes means a base-line ca🥂n never be reliably trusted.
And without credible data to tak♔e to the𝕴 wind tunnel, the direction for future development can become muddled.
Hamilton, in his final year with Mercedes, was finally told to “look and learn” from teammate George Russell in o🌄rder to finish as the team’s best driver this season.
James was a sports journalist ꦜat Sky Sports for a♍ decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
