HAMILTON SHARES THOUGHTS ON NEW MERCEDES UPGRADES AFTER P3 QUALI RESULT.

Russell and Hamilton, both Mercedes drivers, will start the Grand Prix from positions P3 and P5, respectively.

Mercedes Technical Director James Allison stated on the F1 Nation podcast that it was hoped the new floor would put Mercedes on “level terms” with McLaren before the race weekend. Allison was quick to dispel any expectations of a significant performance boost, claiming the upgrades would not be “transformative.”

While the upgraded floor should result in improvements of “a tenth of a second,” they also contribute to helping Mercedes comprehend its 2024 rival. We are reasonably optimistic that we have a firm grasp on the problem, said Allison. The direction we should take for the upcoming season is therefore something we are fairly confident about.

The new floor made its Circuit of the Americas debut on Friday’s race. Lewis Hamilton gave his thoughts on the upgrades after qualifying. The Mercedes driver’s qualifying performance initially appears to be a positive endorsement of the W14’s improvements. Behind Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who earned the pole position for Sunday’s race, Hamilton is starting from third. George Russell, a teammate, is the first

Speaking to Autosport, Hamilton didn’t seem fully sure at what the upgrades could mean for the 2024 car.

“I don’t know really if it’s a signifier of anything for next year but, as we continue to experiment, we get more and more knowledge of where we’re going, and where we are routing the flow of the car,” said Hamilton. “The floor is not a huge amount different. There’s always hype with someone’s upgrade but the rest of the car is exactly the same. And there’s lots and lots of areas in which we can improve.”
However, the Brit also acknowledged that the new floor was an “improvement”.

“This is one of the first upgrades that I’ve actually felt over the last two years,” he said. “So that’s a positive, and we just need two or three times of this step to put us in super competitive mode, which I believe the guys can do.”

“Too early to say”, says Hamilton
Whilst both Mercedes drivers are in good standing for Sunday’s race, Hamilton has taken a measured approach in outlook. The seven-time World Champion said it was “too early to say” quite how strong Mercedes will be in the race.

I don’t know because none of us have engaged in any long distance running, Hamilton said. Despite this, Hamilton acknowledged that Mercedes has a better chance of winning because both Red Bull teams started further back on the starting line.

Hamilton speculated that since Red Bull isn’t in the top three, the competition will be more intense because of how often they are far in front and simply vanish into thin air. So hopefully we can have a close fight between the three of us.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull starts Sunday’s race from P6 after being forced to abandon his pole-winning lap due to track limitations. Sergio Perez, a Mexican, begins play from position nine after a challenging qualifying round.