Speaking at a news conference Thursday ahead of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton not only dismissed rumors of a possible move to Ferrari, but the seven-time champion spoke about his long-awaited W14 upgrade, and confirmed that Mercedes still has a championship. share.
“[W]We are still a championship winning team. It’s just that we chose the wrong car,” Hamilton said on Thursday. “There have been some decisions that have been made over the last two years that have not been ideal and we are working on them.”
Hamilton, like the rest of the F1 world, was looking forward to seeing the upgrade to the W14. Those upgrades were finally unveiled at Monaco this week, and while they haven’t seen the track yet, the revised sidepods have some wondering if Mercedes can finally challenge up front.
“We have a new upgrade this weekend, the team has worked very hard to bring this upgrade. We already, after Bahrain, decided that was what we were going to do, so I was a bit disappointed when the last race was canceled because I was excited to try this new package,” added Hamilton. “And while it’s not the best platform path here to really see that come to fruition, hopefully we’ll experience it again next week.”
Hamilton also reflects the thoughts of Team Principal Toto Wolff who shared last season the importance of losing. In response to a question from Luke Smith from Athletics about learning from defeat, Hamilton had this to say:
“100% yes. As the sport continues to develop, more and more people are coming to the team. There are a lot of people in the team who have had all the success we’ve had in the past. And there are many people who have not been successful and are very hungry. I was really encouraged when I came back to the factory and saw how hard everyone was working. Last year we were a little confused in terms of how to fix the problem we had. I feel like the team now has a lot of… they have the north star, they know exactly where they need to go and we’re working to get there. But yes, the amount of work that has come in is incredible and I am very, very grateful for the hard work. I’m really excited to get in the car and feel this change and I feel like that hopefully puts us on the right track now to go forward and try and catch up with the guys at the front.”
Mercedes fans are now hoping for the northern star to make it to the podium.