F1: Hamilton insists Mercedes inferior, must copy Red Bull

Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton insists that the Mercedes design team copy the Red Bull RB19 because it is superior to his W14.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Gone is Chief Design Engineer Aldo Costa and the glory days of Mercedes. Since then, Mercedes has been a like a canoe going upstream without a paddle.

#44 Lewis Hamilton, (GRB) AMG Mercedes Ineos during the Hungarian GP, Budapest 20-23 July 2023 at the Hungaroring, Formula 1 World championship 2023.

Despite a sensational Pole Position that dominated F1 news headlines in Hungary, Mercedes was sent back to reality by the W14’s performance on Sunday.

The Silver Arrows lacked the pace to compete with Max Verstappen, whose advantage on race day remains unaffected by the efforts of rival teams.

Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect Mercedes to challenge for wins in 2023, given their poor start in Bahrain and the significant change in their direction of development.

Speaking after the Hungarian GP, 7-time Champion Lewis Hamilton made no secret of his preferred development path for Mercedes:

“We generally have a bigger wing than some of the others,” crash.net quotes him as saying.

“Like the Red Bulls for example, but they seem to have more downforce from their floor.

“We have a lot of work to do, I’m like a broken record.

“I’ve just gotta keep telling the guys: ‘we need to go in that direction’.

“I would like to see that either with this year’s car or next year.”