“You can’t compare us to McLaren”: Lewis Hamilton insists Mercedes still a ‘world championship’ team

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton recently stated that the German team's situation is not as bad as his former team McLaren, who are undergoing major changes in their technical department.

The Silver Arrows are struggling behind leaders Red Bull and are fighting Aston Martin F1 and Ferrari in the battle for P2 in the constructors' championship. Despite their struggles, Hamilton stated that their situation is not as bad as McLaren, who are battling in midfield in 2023.

As per Motorsportweek, the seven-time world champion said:

"Well you can’t compare us to McLaren, we’ve won eight world titles in the last ten years. McLaren is like an old home for me, it’s old family so I’m always looking to see where they are and hope they figure things out and become the team they once were, the team I know them as being in my earlier days and before then, so I hope whatever restructuring they’re doing is good."

Lewis Hamilton reiterated that the quality is still there in the team which won eight consecutive constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021. He added:

"We’re still a World Championship-winning team, we’ve got amazing people who have been with us on that journey. We always need to hold ourselves accountable, each and every single one of us. We all need to look at how we go about things and how we do it better."

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"I know that we will get there" - Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes' struggles

Lewis Hamilton stated that he was inspired by the open-mindedness of the people working at Mercedes and is confident that they will bounce back in the future.

The 38-year-old said:

"There’s not a single person in the team that thinks they have done everything right and that they couldn’t do things better, and everyone’s just focused on correcting that and learning moving forwards collectively, and improving our communication and improving how we process things."

“That’s a huge thing for me, because if you’ve got a group of people who are just super stuck in their ways and don’t change then you will just stay in that area of being non-competitive. But these men and women are very open-minded, that’s inspiring for me to see the courage that they have, and I know that we will get there.”

Hamilton added that he was feeling good and does not need a rest going into a busy European season, saying:

"Honestly I don’t think I need a mental break at the moment, I feel pretty good. Particularly as our August is usually that time where you get that downtime. So I think it’s good for the team to settle down and focus and churn away during that time, focus on bringing upgrades and fixing the car."

It would be fascinating to see if Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes can bounce back with their upgrades in 2023.