With the 2023 season finally completed, Lewis Hamilton has had another season he would like to forget. This is the second season in a row that has gone without a win for the 7-time Champion. Due to this, it is without a doubt that he will be hoping to forget the W14 and look ahead to 2024.
Coming into Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton was one of the most promising drivers. As a result, Lewis got the opportunity to drive for one of the top teams in F1 in his rookie season. Fortunately for Lewis, McLaren had 2 empty seats for the 2007 season. They filled one with the young British driver, and the other with the reigning Champion, Fernando Alonso.
At the time, no one thought that Lewis Hamilton would be able to compete with Fernando Alonso. However, the results proved to be different. He went on to finish 2nd in the WDC with the same number of points as his teammate. However, Kimi Raikkonen won the Championship that year by 1 point.
“It’s not been a great year” 💬
A deflated Lewis Hamilton reflects on his season 🗣👇 pic.twitter.com/XxDIMCPusT
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 26, 2023
The next season he won the Championship on the last race. Since then, fans no longer underestimated Lewis Hamilton. They knew that he was something special. He had won at least 1 race in every season until 2022.
By 2022, Lewis Hamilton had already won 7 Championship with the help of Mercedes. However, the FIA introduced some major rules and regulations changes that did not favor Mercedes. Red Bull came out on top after these changes. Since then, Lewis Hamilton has been struggling to find pace with Mercedes.
An honest assessment from Lewis Hamilton#F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/WOBWUijay5
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 25, 2023
In 2023, despite having a bad car, Lewis did manage to finish P3 in the WDC. He was only behind the Red Bull drivers. However, he is disappointed with his performance in the past few races. For the Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi GPs, Lewis failed to qualify for Q3. In Brazil, the car had no race pace and had to settle for minimal points.
Despite these difficulties, Lewis actually had an even worse season last year. In 2022, Lewis only managed to finish 6th in the WDC. At the beginning of the 2022 season, the car struggled with a lot of bouncing. As a result, Lewis started to have back problems in street circuits where the tracks were more bumpy than usual. The 2022 season was perhaps Lewis Hamilton’s worst season in F1,
The relieving reaction of Lewis Hamilton following the end of 2023 campaign
With the 2023 season completed, Lewis Hamilton is more than glad to get rid of the W14. The 2023 challenger has not brought much success to Mercedes and Lewis. Although they did finish 2nd in the WCC, they were nowhere near the pace of the Red Bull. Max Verstappen had a completely dominating season this year as he broke several records.
After the Abu Dhabi GP, Lewis Hamilton was asked if he could take some joy in the fact that Mercedes finished 2nd in the WCC. To this he replied “Not particularly. It’s not been a great year in general. The fact I survived it. Probably that’s about it,” he said. Lewis Hamilton has shown his relief of getting rid of the W14. Earlier this year in Brazil, Hamilton was glad that there were only 2 more races left with the W14.
It has been reported that Red Bull started developing the RB20 in August itself. This could prove to be a challenge for Mercedes to try and challenge them. However, Red Bull has considerably less time in the wind tunnel than Mercedes. This could allow Mercedes to close in on Red Bull if they make the right decisions.
Lewis Hamilton knowing he doesn’t have to drive the W14 again pic.twitter.com/VBI0I2Oa5K
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) November 26, 2023
Even Mercedes had started their development for the 2024 challenger a couple of months back. For the W15, Mercedes will be going for a whole different concept as they are sure that an updated version of the W14 will not help the team challenge Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton recently signed a 2-year extension which will start next season. He is hoping to win another Championship with this. He already has 7, but one more will break the record that was set by Michael Schumacher.
Do you think Mercedes’ W15 will help Lewis Hamilton challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull next season? Post your answers in the comments section below.