Mercedes Tech Boss Gambles on “Experiments” as Lewis Hamilton Turns Sour Over 2-Year-Old Issue

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The 2024 Saudi Arabian GP exposed a major flaw in Mercedes’ challenger- the W15. While battling with the McLarens, Lewis Hamilton was losing up to 5 tenths in the fast, twisty sections of the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit. Now, to combat this issue, Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, has confirmed that the team is looking to do some “experiments” to ensure it fixes those niggles at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.

Auto Motor und Sport quoted Shovlin, “There’s a lot of work going on in the aerodynamics department and the vehicle dynamics department. We’re trying to develop some experiments there that will hopefully give us a direction that will improve our performance.”

The car that Mercedes has developed this season is like a bullet in the straights. However, as Shovlin explained, their troubles come in the faster corners where the aerodynamic demands are at its peak. What’s more, during the race in Jeddah, the team used different setups on Hamilton and George Russell’s car. Unfortunately, neither car managed to yield a positive feedback.

While the team looks to experiment, Hamilton grows incredibly frustrated. Mercedes has been in a slump since 2022, which has prevented him from winning races too. Unless things take a dramatic turn this season, Hamilton is in for more of the same.

Lewis Hamilton faced tough Jeddah challenge owing to Mercedes’ failures

Hamilton’s race-long battle with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was a frustrating tussle for the seven-time world champion. Ex-Ferrari manager, Peter Windsor even termed it as an embarrassment.

In the opening rounds of the Grand Prix, Hamilton had to defend strong to keep the hounding Oscar Piastri at bay. Then, when the final rounds of pitstops were done, Hamilton came out behind Norris.

With a handful of laps to go, Hamilton went on the attack. However, that’s where Mercedes’ handicap was the most evident. In race trim, the MCL38 is one of the slowest cars in straight-line speed. Still, Norris was able to pull a gap on Hamilton in the middle-section of the track. This is because of Mercedes’ overwhelming weakness in sections that have fast corners.

McLaren’s supreme cornering ability allowed them to thwart Hamilton’s charge and pull a whopping half-a-second over Hamilton, over the course of one lap.