Lewis Hamilton says he is “excited” about Mercedes’ upcoming upgrades, with the seven-time champion hoping they now finally have a “North Star” to follow in the pursuit of even more speed.
Most of the leading teams are rolling out some form of car upgrades over the Imola weekend, with Mercedes set to have new parts on its W15 for the second race in a row.
The former champion has yet to finish a grand prix higher than fifth this season, but Hamilton was inspired by his late-race pace at the last Miami Grand Prix, when he finished behind Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez .
“The last race was positive, there’s still a long way to go,” said Hamilton, whose sixth-place finish in Miami was his personal best in what has been a disappointing Sunday in 2024 so far.
“I’m very excited about what’s to come. We took a step last game, we took a step this weekend, and there’s more in the pipeline.
“I feel like we’ve found more of the North Star that we need to do and change. It just takes time, but the energy of the team is amazing.
Lewis Hamilton arrives at Imola paddock on Thursday
“They’re very resilient on this team. Even though we got knocked down a lot, they kept going.
“We just have to continue to keep our heads down, stay focused and do the best we can every weekend.”
Hamilton said Mercedes was still in the “discovery process” of the W15, the much-changed successor to last year’s disappointing W14, and that Mercedes had a “very small window” in which Within this window, they can continue to achieve their peak performance.
But he believes the progress being made at Brackley is real and the team is working hard to speed up the delivery of further development parts ahead of a busy summer of racing.
“It’s just a game of patience and making do. [with] What have you,” Hamilton said.
“Make the most of the tools you have today, tomorrow and this weekend. But it’s encouraging that we’re seeing progress in the wind tunnel at the factory.
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“We do have new components coming out, which is always an exciting part of the process. Trying a lot of different things and finding out what works and what doesn’t. The fact is, we do have a direction going forward, and we ‘Have tested it on the emulator, and then you’ll be craving those bits.
“This is a real, real push time for people because they need to be in the factory for a while and get these things early. We need everyone to get their hands dirty, and we know we’ve got that.”
“The direction we need to go is very clear”
After struggling to win just one race in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Mercedes’ 2024 challenger admits their car design needs to go in a completely different direction in the current era of F1’s ground effects rules, but they have not yet prepared for The fleet delivers performance breakthroughs.
They have been outperformed by Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in the first six rounds of the season, but George Russell also shared teammate Hamilton’s encouragement for the future.
“It’s been really impressive to see how the team has come together and put in so much time in the factory to try to get these developments into the car faster, to try to make the car faster,” Russell said.
“The direction we need to go is very clear and that gives people motivation and a clear platform we need to build on. Time will tell in the coming games.”
“There’s no let-up of momentum and everyone is motivated to get Mercedes back to the top.”
Sky Sports F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix live schedule
Friday, May 17
8:50 AM: F3 practice
10 a.m.: F2 practice
12 noon: Emilia Romagna GP Practice 1 (Meeting starts at 12.30 noon)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
2:55pm: F2 Qualifying
3:45 PM: Emilia Romagna GP Practice Two (Meeting starts at 4 p.m.)
5:30 PM: F1
Saturday, May 18
9 a.m.: F3 sprint
11:15 AM: Emilia Romagna GP Practice Three (Meeting starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 sprint
2.10pm: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying preparations
3pm: Emilia Romagna GP qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualification Notebook
5.30pm: Indy 500 qualifying
Sunday, May 19
7.30am: F3 special race
9 a.m.: F2 Special Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix preparations
2pm: Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna
4pm: Checkered flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
8 p.m.: Indy 500 qualifying
Formula 1 will head to Europe as Imola returns to the calendar following last year’s canceled race. Watch this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and Sunday’s race at 2pm.Watch every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Monthly Membership – no contract, cancel anytime
