Lewis Hamilton Says Mercedes F1 Team 'Didn't Listen' to Concerns over 2023 Car Design
Lewis Hamilton is upset at Mercedes after his Formula One team refused to make changes he recommended after a rough 2022 season.
"It's about owning up and saying, 'Yeah, you know what? We didn't listen to you. It's not where it needs to be and we've got to work'," Hamilton said on BBC Radio 5 Live's Chequered Flag podcast (via Andrew Benson of BBC Sport).
As Benson noted, most teams have followed the designs pioneered by Red Bull heading into the 2023 season, while Mercedes will stick with its own "zero-sidepod" concept.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff already admitted this was a mistake after qualifying for the first race of the season, planning changes with his engineers.
Red Bull Racing cruised to a team victory last year behind champion Max Verstappen, who won 15 of 22 races. Mercedes fell to third behind Ferrari, with Hamilton falling to sixth place in the final standings. The British driver had won the championship in six of the previous eight years, never finishing lower than second.
It was Hamilton's first season in Formula One where he didn't win a single race.
The 38-year-old said he told Mercedes about the problems a year ago.
"Last year, there were things I told them. I said the issues that are with the car," Hamilton said. "I've driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn't need. I think it's really about accountability."
Hamilton finished in fifth place in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, with teammate George Russell finishing in seventh.
