Hamilton wants Mercedes engineers to own up and take accountability
Thursday, 9 March 2023
The seven-time world champion says the team must first accept it made mistakes.
Lewis Hamilton urged Mercedes engineers to "own up" for their performance issues after a slow start to the season.
The seven-time world champion finished fifth in the opening race of the 2023 Formula 1® season in Bahrain, behind both Red Bull cars, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
Any hope that Mercedes would be able to compete at the front of the grid following a woeful campaign in 2022 is already on the back burner, with the zero-pods concept continuing to attract criticism.
Team principal Toto Wolff admitted on Sunday that "radical" changes are needed, a view that Hamilton clearly shares.
Major improvements for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix later this month are unlikely, but Hamilton is keen for the engineers to own up to their errors.
"Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car," he told the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast.
"Like, I've driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn't need.
"And I think it's really about accountability, it's about owning up and saying 'yeah, you know what, we didn't listen to you, it's not where it needs to be and we've got to work'.
"We've got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team, that's what we do.
"We're still multi World Champions you know, it's just they haven't got it right this time, they didn't get it right last year, but that doesn't mean we can't get it right moving forwards."
Not the weekend we wanted but we won’t let the positive energy drop. 📸🖤 pic.twitter.com/ljTn7nQe5q
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 7, 2023
