Hamilton on 2024 car: 'Have full confidence in our crew'

Mercedes has not been the dominant team in Formula 1 since 2021. The team has been particularly affected by the regulations introduced in 2022. Toto Wolff said earlier this week that this year's car could be trashed, but Lewis Hamilton says there are good things about the car too.

Since the rulebook change in 2022, Mercedes has had an incredibly difficult time. The car is not consistent enough: one weekend they are there, and the next they are not. With the new rules, Mercedes only managed to win once so far. George Russell took his first-ever victory in Brazil 2022, while his teammate, Hamilton, has yet to win with the new cars.

Yet Hamilton is less harsh on the car than Wolff: "We won't ever bin the car, of course. These cars are still masterpieces, really, even if they're not. It's not the fastest car in the world, but 2,000 people have worked so hard to build these things and they'll continue to be a part of our history and learning curve."

Hamilton has no real idea yet how competitive Mercedes will be next year. He does say they are trying to hold on to the positives about the current car: "We're trying to hold on to the positives and add some new. With the new direction we have, it's far too early to say and to be optimistic about next year's car, because we are just in the process of going into that. But have full faith in the crew that they're going to take it in the direction that it needs to go. There's been a lot of learning in these past two years, so if we haven't figured it out by next year, then obviously we'll just keep working away at it. But I'm hoping that they have."