Lewis Hamilton: The team doesn’t have to prove anything to me

Mercedes has high hopes for the new season – the team expects to return to the front row and help Lewis Hamilton to an eighth title. After the presentation of the W14 car, Lewis answered questions about the upcoming season and talked about plans for the future.

Question In the run-up to your 17th season in Formula 1, you have already achieved more than many thought possible. Do you still feel the same passion for your work as you did in your debut season?
Lewis Hamilton: Certainly. I wouldn’t say it happens every season, but this year I had a great winter break and now I can’t remember the last time I was so eager to get back behind the wheel.

Before the presentation of the car, I took part in tire tests and worked on the track for two days, which I never did. I feel energized and very happy to be working with the team. It’s amazing how focused everyone is at work.

I look forward to a new season. Physically I am in excellent shape and I am determined to raise the bar even higher in this area. It won’t be easy, but that’s what I live for.

Q: What are your goals for the season? If you fail to compete with Red Bull Racing, will that affect your plans for the future in any way?
Lewis Hamilton: I have often said that the team is my family, so we did not win the last titles by chance. You can’t suddenly forget how to win. I have complete confidence in the people I work with as a team. Our base is expanding, the number of departments is growing, new employees are joining, but staying at the top is always difficult.

Arriving at the base this year, I realized that the 11th year in the team was waiting for me – this is a lot. Nevertheless, I still enjoy working here. I don’t feel stagnant – on the contrary, everything is just so fresh.

Last year we knew about the big changes and were prepared for them, but the results shocked us all. This year the outlook is increasingly soberly assessed – we understand we may not be first but we have the potential to close the gap. I hope the potential will narrow the gap at the start of the season.

Q: How did you stay fit during the off-season? Did you go karting?
Lewis Hamilton: No, I didn’t drive. I played other sports – played squash, did a lot of surfing and swimming. And I keep running a lot, because running allows you to lead a healthy lifestyle. And I train a lot – even at Christmas I climbed mountains. I try to keep practicing and not take long breaks.

I think my approach works well. In Jerez I did about 160 laps during tire testing and I felt great. Of course, neck pain is inevitable on the first day, but after that the body quickly gets used to the stress.

Q: Do you need assurances from Mercedes that they can return to the top, or are you ready to make a long-term commitment and sign a contract?
Lewis Hamilton: I don’t think the team has to prove anything to me. I think over the years we have repeatedly proven that we have inner strength. The team employs incredibly talented people who have not lost their skills. We continue to improve our processes and try to develop a more thoughtful approach.

I believe that harmony has developed between me and the team in recent years. As I said, we were joined by young engineers and people who came to Mercedes a few years ago. It’s an exciting time for the team and I don’t intend to be anywhere else.

Q: Is there a specific part of the car that engineers should focus on first to add in 2023?
Lewis HamiltonA: Yes, but I can’t tell you. We have to work on almost everything – from the front wheels to the rear of the car, but we are mainly talking about the behavior of the car on the track.

Last year the car didn’t feel like a real race car, so we weren’t confident. The team has been working on things they wanted to change over the year and we believe these issues have been resolved. As soon as I get behind the wheel during the tests, we will immediately understand whether we have solved the problems or whether we still have work to do.

Q: Why did the team decide to repaint the car black?
Lewis Hamilton: Everyone on the team, at least those who work directly in the pits, preferred black, because we like this color scheme.

The biggest challenge was weight reduction, because last season the car was too heavy, even in the last race. That is why we have paid special attention to avoiding a recurrence of this problem in 2023.

Later we will understand if we managed to solve the problems, but I am glad that the team took this problem seriously – we can even see this in the coloring. There is a lot of unpainted carbon in the car to save weight. I like this solution because it shows that all forces are focused on achieving speed. It doesn’t matter what the car looks like, what matters is how fast it is.

Q: Last year’s W13 car didn’t have many strong points, but would you like to keep some of its features in the new W14?
Lewis Hamilton: All we wanted to maintain was a high pace over a long distance. I think our race pace has always been high. Maybe we want to keep this quality, but also reliability, this year. As for all other features, everything had to be reworked to build a more efficient machine.

Question Visually, your car differs from rivals’ technology. Does this fact bother you? Are there fears about the misconception of the chosen concept?
Lewis Hamilton: We have never been a team that copied opponents’ technique. We have always acted in our own way, were creative and innovative. A similar approach has worked in the past.

Many teams’ cars are similar to the Red Bull car, with the exception of Ferrari. At one point last year we admitted that the Red Bull car looks fast and doesn’t have the problems our car had.

I trust our engineers and hope that the performance of the new machine will meet our requirements. If not, we’ll find a way to fix it. We’re ready for the “What if?”

The difficulty is that we do not have a magic ball that can predict the future, so we do not know what lies ahead, but if problems arise, we are ready to work on their solution.