© Sam Bloxham for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has understood “where we’ve gone wrong” and he hopes that “this weekend we can start back on a better balance”.
Mercedes has brought its last big upgrades package of 2024 to the United States Grand Prix.
Ahead of the race weekend, Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has used the big break to come to grips with the W15’s issues.
“Normally they’re [Mercedes] on the move all the time, so they’ve definitely had time to analyse where we’ve gone wrong,” the Briton said.
“But also we’ve been a bit out of sequence [compared] to the others. The others have all upgraded at times we haven’t, so we’re bringing an upgrade here for example.
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“Some people probably will bring small pieces here, but maybe not everyone will have the same upgrade we have here.
“Others brought it to Zandvoort and to Monza I think it was for Ferrari, so I think we’ve just been a bit out of sync and we ultimately lost our way a little bit with set-up.
“Trying to get as much from this car that’s slowly deteriorating on the floor for example.
“So I think we understand where we’ve gone wrong, I think not necessarily wrong, but where we’ve veered off and I’m hoping this weekend we can start back on a better balance.”
However, Lewis admits it’s not realistic to think Mercedes will extract the full potential from the upgraded W15 immediately.
“It’s pretty impossible unless you’re just lucky and it works from the get-go.
“Last year we came here and I didn’t have to change much and the balance was sweet from the get-go. Nine and a half times out of 10 that’s not the case.
“It’s difficult but everyone’s in the same boat. That puts a lot of pressure and a lot of focus on simulation.
“Simulations haven’t been ideal in the past year or so but we are constantly working on them. Some others put their car on the track and it just works straight away.
“We’re hoping that we’ve definitely made more than enough mistakes and hopefully we’ll be able to start on a better platform,” Hamilton concluded.
