Lewis Hamilton said ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that the seat position in his Mercedes W14 is one of the key reasons he is struggling with the car this season; Sky Sports F1's Jenson Button and Karun Chandhok analyse why the design is troubling Hamilton
Friday 7 April 2023 14:56, UK
Lewis Hamilton revealed ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that he is struggling with the seat position in Mercedes' W14, but why has team-mate George Russell not expressed the same discontent?
While Hamilton ended the weekend in Melbourne in high spirits after finishing second to claim a first podium of the season, he had cut a far less contented figure on Thursday as he spoke about what he perceives to be a major deficiency with his team's 2023 car.
After seeing their eight-year streak of constructors' titles ended in emphatic fashion by Red Bull last season, Mercedes are once more well off the pace of the reigning champions, and have expressed their intention to make radical changes to the W14 throughout the 2023 campaign.
When asked to explain his struggles, Hamilton pinpointed an issue neither he nor the team had previously spoken about publicly, that the Mercedes cockpit is closer to the front of the car than their rivals, most notably Red Bull, who have their drivers significantly further back.
"I don't know if people know, but we sit closer to the front tyres than all the other drivers - our cockpit is too close to the front," the seven-time world champion said.
"When you're driving, you feel like you're sitting on the front wheels, which is one of the worst feelings when you're driving a car - if you were driving your car back home and you pulled the wheels beneath your legs, you would not be happy when you're approaching the roundabout.
"What that does is it changes the attitude of the car and how you perceive its movement, and it makes it harder to predict compared to when you're sitting back, more in the centre and it's just something I've really struggled with."
Following Hamilton's comments, Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok and Jenson Button took a closer look at the situation.
Button, who drove alongside Hamilton for three seasons at McLaren from 2010-2012, explained why he thinks the Mercedes design is causing his former team-mate problems.
"Well, he's not feeling and I think that's the biggest problem," the 2009 world champion said.
"With Lewis, the way he drives, you know, he's quite aggressive on the throttle, quite aggressive on the brake and he does everything through the steering wheel, so he really needs to feel what's happening through the rear of the car through his arms.
"And he's not getting that, so he doesn't have that confidence to push the car.
"And these cars are tricky anyway, they're always on edge, especially in qualifying. And if he doesn't have that confidence, he's not able to get the maximum out of it.
Chandhok added: "And that's the real point isn't it, because the contact patches to the ground are through the four wheels, so if you don't feel the rear axle, if he thinks he's further forward, and he can't feel that that, that gives him the inability, perhaps, to have confidence on entry."
While Hamilton was vocal in his criticism of the W14 seat position, his Mercedes team-mate Russell has not expressed any issue with this particular aspect of the car.
Russell finished above Hamilton in the drivers' standings in his debut campaign with the team last year, while the 25-year-old has out-qualified Hamilton at all three races this season.
"I think George has a different way of driving," Button said.
"I haven't seen George's data, I just know the way Lewis drives because I've seen his data and it surprises me how different he drives to me, for example.
"And if George is a driver that always tries to keep the steering wheel as calm as possible, do everything through the throttle and brakes, manipulating the car that way, he's probably not going to react so badly with this change to the car."
Amid his early-season frustrations, Hamilton has accused certain Mercedes colleagues of failing to listen his opinion on aspects of the car design.
While he did not specifically confirm that the seat position was the design element he had previously been describing, the 38-year-old suggested he had never been in favour of it.
"Yeah, I listened to the team and that was the direction that they said that we should go." Hamilton said.
"Had I known the feeling that I would have in it, it wouldn't have happened.
"And it has to change for the future, 100 per cent."
So how soon is the future? Not this season, according to Chandhok.
"It's not something they can fix very easily," Chandhok said. "Maybe for next year."
Due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix, there is a four-week break until the 2023 Formula 1 season resumes with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku's stunning street circuit.
The action is all live on Sky Sports F1 from April 28-30, with Sunday's race at 12pm.
Between now and then, we will be bringing you all the latest F1 news via the Sky Sports app and website.
