Lewis Hamilton described the worst System One season begin of his profession as powerful on the spirit and warned it was a problem leaving him in peril of simply going via the motions, after he and Mercedes endured a dismal weekend on the Australian Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion’s crew principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, was equally blunt in his evaluation, describing it as brutally painful, conceding it was a good query to ask if it was time he stepped down from the function and that he felt neither constructive nor optimistic about his crew’s state of affairs.
Hamilton retired with an engine failure on lap 17 of the race in Melbourne, which was gained by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The British driver has been off the tempo all weekend, qualifying solely in eleventh and making little progress within the race when his engine gave out. He has scored solely eight factors in three races this season, taking seventh in Bahrain and ninth in Saudi Arabia, a worse return than his earlier opening nadir in 2009 of a disqualification, sixth and seventh.
That is the third yr in succession Mercedes have did not ship a automotive able to competing on the entrance and this season have been outpaced not solely by world champions Crimson Bull, but in addition by Ferrari and on this way in Australia, McLaren.
After leaving his stricken automotive along side the observe in Albert Park Hamilton admitted one other season of wrestle to little avail was removed from inspiring.
“That is the worst begin to the season I’ve ever had for certain and it’s worse than 2009,” he mentioned. “It’s powerful on the spirit for everybody within the crew. When a lot work is occurring all through the winter for everyone, you are available in excited, motivated and pushed, and you then’re with the mindset that you just’re going to be combating for wins.
“Then clearly that’s not the case and also you’re like: ‘Okay, possibly second, third’. No, it’s not the case, and it cascades a bit additional down and also you simply undergo the motions. It’s difficult.”
His teammate George Russell crashed out on the ultimate lap however had made it no larger than seventh, ending a really disappointing weekend for Mercedes.
That they had entered the yr having adopted a completely new design philosophy for his or her automotive and had been optimistic the brand new season would carry larger returns. As an alternative the issues appear all too acquainted, the automotive will not be performing as predicted within the wind tunnel and doesn’t current a secure, dependable platform from one race to the subsequent.
Wolff, who joined Mercedes in 2013 – the identical yr as Hamilton – and who has been beside the British driver as he secured six titles with the crew, conceded it had been a bitter begin to 2024.
“You see the progress that McLaren and Ferrari have made, so on one facet, I need to punch myself on the nostril,” he mentioned. “We’ve obtained to essentially dig deep as a result of it’s brutally painful.
“I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I really feel constructive and optimistic in regards to the state of affairs. You should overcome the adverse ideas and say ‘we are going to flip it round’, however as we speak it feels very, very, very brutal.”
The 52-year-old, who’s a one-third shareholder in Mercedes, additionally admitted it was affordable to ask if he was the suitable particular person to guide the crew however insisted he wouldn’t be stepping down.
“I have a look at myself within the mirror each single day about the whole lot I do and it’s a truthful query however it [leaving] will not be what I really feel that I ought to do in the intervening time,” he mentioned.
“In case you ask the supervisor query, I can not go to Chelsea or Liverpool or over to Ferrari, I’ve not obtained that selection [as a co-owner] which can be unlucky. I’m not a contractor or an worker, who has mentioned: ‘I’ve had sufficient of this’. My hamster wheel retains spinning and I can not bounce out.”