Mercedes boss confirms ditching Lewis Hamilton’s ‘different idea’ for the W14’s concept

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff accepted that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had advised the team to ditch their 'no sidepod' concept after their dismal 2022 season.

Heading into 2022, the German team had won eight constructors' championships in a row and introduced a dramatically different looking than their rivals. However, they were unable to replicate their previous success and finished the season in P3.

Speaking to Formu1a.uno, Wolff said:

“Lewis had a different idea. But in the end, we all decided together to remain faithful to this concept, encouraged by the good results at the end of last year. We did everything to make our concept work because, based on our data, it should have worked. But now, we have confirmed that we were simply wrong."

“The two fastest cars of us [Aston Martin and Red Bull] generate downforce in a similar way and look very different from the W14. Our aim is to make the right decisions for the long term. For now, we’ll run with the best possible package we can handle. Whether or not you have tight bellies is irrelevant. We just need more downforce."

"Lewis Hamilton knows he's not going to win the championship this year" - F1 pundit

Sky Sports pundit Ted Kravitz mentioned that the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen has flipped since their early exchanges as the Briton has realized that e cannot challenge the reigning world champion.

While appearing on the Sky Sports podcast, he said:

"What's fascinating to me is, we now have a complete flip of the Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton season from 2014 to 2021, when Hamilton has been going for the championship, knowing he has the fastest car and needs to play it safe. You had the upstart Verstappen challenging him and wanting to get in there."

"And now you've got Hamilton challenging Verstappen, saying, 'It's no cares given, I'm out there to take all the risks', putting it back on the defending champion. Hamilton knows he's not going to win the championship this year, not unless something really weird happens, so he can go in there and be aggressive with Verstappen, knowing that he is probably going to have to give way."

It will be fascinating to see if Mercedes will change their concept in the middle of the season and give Lewis Hamilton the opportunity to challenge Max Verstappen in 2023 and in the upcoming seasons.