Lewis Hamilton's struggles with the Mercedes W14 explained by F1 pundit

F1 pundit Mark Hughes has said that Lewis Hamilton's struggles with his 2023 car are similar to last season, but there's a key difference in his outlook.

Mercedes have struggled to fight for pole positions and race wins since the beginning of the new regulations last year, only winning once and getting one pole position, courtesy George Russell. Although Hamilton was vocal about his struggles with the W13, he didn't show his frustration much in 2022, but that he has changed this season.

On The Race podcast, Hughes spoke about Hamilton's struggles:

"I think he had exactly the same problem with last year's car, but he was more discreet about it then. But in his frustration that the team has retained the layout despite his feedback, he became more vocal about it this year. It's not so much the balance of the car that he's complaining about per se, but when you feel the car seated further forward, you see the car differently.

"By definition, you feel the rear of the car later, and it's not calibrated the same with your own internal feeling to what you become familiar with over the years. So, the car can be doing the same thing, but you are feeling it totally differently."

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"I just don't feel the car underneath me, I just don't feel connected to this car, and I can't get it" - Lewis Hamilton

In Bahrain, the seven-time world champion said that he just didn't feel connected to the car and never had the W14 under him.

While speaking to the media, including Sky Sports, Lewis Hamilton said:

"I feel like I struggled with the car in the high speed particularly. But I just don't feel the car underneath me, I just don't feel connected to this car, and I can't get it. I don't really know what I am going to do about that. It is miserable. It's tough. I am giving it absolutely everything.

"I am here as late as I can be every day, and I am preparing the best I can, and I get in the car, and I just can't connect with it. I don't really know what to say about it. George is able to get the car in a different place to me. I just struggled to extract the performance from the car,"

Lewis Hamilton has not won a race since Saudi Arabia 2021, so it will be interesting to see if he can add to his tally in 2023.