It hasn't been an easy season for Mercedes, even more so Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion, like last year with the W13, struggled a lot, but managed to extract the most from a car that showed more than a few difficulties during the long 2023 season.
A season full of difficulties
Despite the third place achieved in drivers' world championship (behind, therefore, only the two from Red Bull) and second together with Russell in the constructors' championship, Hamilton I am not 100% satisfied of your season. The reason is very simple and hides behind his being world champion. Lewis has renewed with Mercedes, with the announcement that he has arrived during the Monza weekend, because he wants to be able to return a win the title.
Hamilton: “I thought I was no longer capable”
Precisely for this reason, when analyzing his year, Hamilton admitted that this year he would have wanted more, especially from driving feel, although he did not hide from having doubted his talent when things, especially at the beginning, didn't go right: “When you have a season as difficult as this, there are always moments when you think: 'Maybe it's me or is it the car? Am I still capable? Can I still do it? Because, if that is missing, you know... the magical moments always come together in the end: you need to have a relationship between you and the machine to give birth to that extraordinary spark which is absolutely what you are looking for".
In 2023, Mercedes chose not to change its philosophy compared to the 2022 vintage. A decision that did not prove successful (and Elliott's farewell bears witness to this) and which Hamilton had already perceived: “I remember very well the feeling which, I can say, was not good at all. I really had great hopes. In February, when we took stock of what the car was like, I was a little worried, because the feelings at the beginning of the year were: 'The car is fantastic, it's unique, and no one has ever encountered anything like it.' After that, we did our first test. Since then I have been much more cautious. As I listened my response was always: 'We will see'. And the car demonstrated all the problems and I knew it was just the beginning of a very, very long year".
