The radical changes the FIA made for 2022 car design together with the freeze on engine development however floored the silver arrows team who have been playing catch up to Red Bull ever since.
The dithering over the proposed new power units specifications originally due in 2022 saw the sport’s governing body freeze the development of the powertrains that year. In an attempt to make overtaking easier the FIA radically alerted the aero rules for cars in 2022, taking out 50% of the downforce generated from the bodywork of the cars in an attempt to reduce the ‘dirty air’ which hampered a car running behind a competitor.
The FIA reintroduced a concept called “ground effect” whereby the air flow under the car would compensate for the loss of downforce from the front and rear wings, something which briefly was used by teams in the late 80’s and 90’s.
The history of ground effect F1 cars shows the drivers position needed to be set more forward than had previously been the case, something Hamilton complained about in both 2022 and the following year.
As Mercedes launched their 2023 car, Lewis was candid about his feelings about the design. “We sit closer to the front wheels than all the other drivers,” said Hamilton. “Our cockpit is too close to the front.”
Yet analysis revealed their was little difference in the Mercedes design when compared to the all conquering Red Bull RB19.
“When you’re driving, you feel like you’re sitting on the front wheels which is one of the worst feelings to feel when you’re driving a car,” Lewis added.
“If you were driving your car at home, and you put the wheels right underneath your legs, you would not be happy when you’re approaching the roundabout!
“So, what that does is it just really changes the attitude of the car and how you perceive its movement. And it makes it harder to predict, compared to when you’re further back and you’re sitting closer, more centre.
“It’s just something I’ve really struggled with.”
However a glance at the early versions of F1 ground effect cars showed the drivers were even sitting further forward than the current crop of car designs.
Further, the Mercedes design in 2022/23 had their drivers a mere fraction further forward than the all conquering Red Bull and it quickly became clear the drivers needed to adapt to the new regulations and change their driving style. So the car design was not the problem, Hamilton’s driving style was.
In their first year together as team mates in 2022, the far less experienced driver George Russel eclipsed the seven times world champion finishing some 35 points ahead of his team mate in the final standings. Russell clearly had adapted better than Hamilton to the driving style of the new F1 cars.
Lewis now admits he has had to learn to adapt his driving style to the new breed of F1 cars and his complaints about the teams poor design efforts may well have been over stated.
“I just keep trying to drive the way I want to drive and then realise it doesn’t always work,” he now admits. “Then I’m trying to, kind of, massage my way through. But it’s not worked that well still to this point.
“I think ultimately, as a driver, you have to be adaptive and you can see that sometimes your approaches to certain things aren’t perfect. You just start looking at ways in which you can still hold on to the essence of what made you as good as you have been, and see how you can evolve that to get to achieve what you need to achieve.
“Ultimately as drivers, you should be able to drive anything – and I think we can. It’s just in certain situations, some drivers are able to deal with things better than others. It takes some people a short time and others longer to adapt.”
Hamilton has bounced back in recent weekends this season and now leads his team mate by 234 points to 175. Of course this gap is larger than it should have been given Mercedes failed to ensure George’s car was not under weight at the recent Belgium Grand Prix which he initially won when the chequered flag fell. Yet Lewis has won two of the last three Grand Prix and appears now to be at ease with the new ground effect F1 cars.
