Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton disagrees with team boss Toto Wolff after the Silver Arrows CEO said the team would “throw away” the 2023 car.
Wolff’s comments come after the Singapore Grand Prix, where Mercedes showed strong signs of progress with the W14, especially following the significant concept change introduced at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
“We will throw this in the trash when it is very fast and then we will start a new journey,” he told the media.
“I think we have encouraging signs coming out of the tunnel of a balanced car that will be more cohesive and we’ve got answers to our questions. So we really look at the results with an encouraging perspective. »
Of course, we will never throw the car in the trash,” said the seven-time world champion.
“These cars are still truly masterpieces, even if they are not the fastest cars in the world. Two thousand people worked very hard to build these and they will continue to be a history section as well as our learning curve.
“There will be elements that we will try to change, try to keep some positive aspects because there are always positives, good and bad, and so we try to keep the positives.
Hamilton also admitted that although Mercedes is undergoing management changes, it is still too early to predict the team’s future.
“With the new management we have, it is too early to say that we can be optimistic about next year’s car because we have only just started producing it,” he explained. But I have complete confidence in the crew: they will go in the direction they need to go. There’s been a lot of learning over the last few years, so if we don’t get it done next year then obviously we’ll keep working on it, but I hope they do.”
Mercedes will be ready to squeeze every bit of performance out of the W14 as Ferrari continues to chase a 20-point gap in the constructors’ championship.