© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has “taken a step in the right direction”, but “real, real progress” is “coming over the next coming months”.
Back in Monaco Mercedes introduced its first big upgrade for the W14, which has put the team on back on the right development direction.
Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton says things are finally looking positive for the team.
“We brought a lot of upgrades last year, and we did make some progress, but we’ve found with this generation of car, adding performance was not easy,” the Briton said.
“When you added performance in the wind tunnel it looked like it was real performance, but then you put it on the car and the car would bounce more.
“And so finally this year we’re starting to make changes to the car that actually do improve the car and don’t add more bouncing.
“We’ve taken a step in the right direction, but I don’t think we’ve completely got to where we going in terms of that direction. I think we’re still turning.”
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With the next big upgrade package expected to arrive at Silverstone, Hamilton says “real, real progress” is yet to come.
“We’ve got real, real progress that’s coming over the next coming months, which is really exciting to see, so I can’t wait.
“Just in terms of just being in the car, you’re starting to feel more confident in it. So it’s finally feeling more like a race car.”
The Briton is especially happy with how the car’s handling has improved.
“Confidence is a huge thing. You have to have confidence in the stability of a car.
“You have to have confidence that when you carry 150, 180 miles an hour into a corner that the car’s going to be with you and support you through that.
“The past year’s car has been so spiteful in that space, you saw the shunt I had here last year, so you really then have to pull back. You can’t get near the limit.
“The changes in the direction that we’re going is enabling me to start to explore that more and have more confidence in pushing closer to the limit, but I’m still not able to get to the limit. So we have to make some more changes.”
He added that Mercedes will be making more fundamental changes to their car in 2024.
“I’ve been asking for it for over a year, so I expect to have that in the future, which I think will definitely help.
“But it’s not only that. It’s the rear end and how it how it rotates through a corner. But we’re working on that and the team are very, very focused on that.
“I think we’ve got some progress coming over the next couple of months which will also help rectify that.”
As for Mercedes’ performance in Austria, Lewis expects the team’s positive upswing to continue.
“I think the surface is very similar to Barcelona, so we’re hopeful that we can be relatively competitive.
“I think it will be very similar to where we were last week, maybe. Red Bull will be ahead, they always go really well here, Red Bull.
“I just hope that we can compete with Ferrari and Aston Martin,” Hamilton concluded.
