[ad_1]
Toto Wolff saw why Lewis Hamilton couldn’t overtake Lando Norris on the softer tire compound during the 2023 British Grand Prix. The Mercedes boss said McLaren simply “had the better car”, despite improvements to their Brackley-style cars.
Talk to Ted Kravitz after the race Sky SportsWolf said:
“The tires blew. But they just had the better car, to put it bluntly, being able to get us on the hard tire with efficiency and straight-line speed.”
Lewis Hamilton, who started the British Grand Prix in P7, was up to P3 after the Safety Car restart, and on the soft compound tyres. In front of him was Lando Norris’ McLaren, who was in the hard compound. It was clear to everyone that the seven-time world champion would easily beat the MCL60. However, this did not happen.
The tire warm-up on the McLaren was much better than on the Mercedes, and thus, Norris was able to pull away. Meanwhile, Hamilton continued to push hard but by the time he had the chance to actually overtake he had lost control of his tyres. This enabled Norris to hold on to second place and achieve his best result in his home race.
When asked by Kravitz about the future of Mercedes’ performance against McLaren, Wolff replied,
“It would be interesting to see more of a twisty circuit, Budapest. But in any case, they’ve made a big step forward, and it’s good for us to see that it’s possible at the pace you can catch up.”
Lewis Hamilton “knows” how to improve the Mercedes W14
Mercedes has made a significant update to the design of the W14, essentially changing the entire side aspect. This has boosted performance in Spain as well as in Canada. However, they lost in Austria. It was the first time Lewis Hamilton had ever been challenged by Lando Norris.
A new front wing upgrade was introduced to the W14 at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, promising better performance, but it didn’t work the way they expected. McLaren were very fast on the track, qualifying well ahead of both Mercedes.
Although Lewis Hamilton took a podium finish, he stated after the race that there was a lot of work required on the car. He added that there should be “serious conversations” about the same. He said according to him PlanetF1:
“We have a lot of work to do. I think I know exactly what we need to do, and I think we have to have some serious conversations about what we’re going to do going forward.”
[ad_2]
