David Coulthard issues ‘unhappy’ Lewis Hamilton warning to Mercedes

David Coulthard has warned Mercedes that Lewis Hamilton is 'unhappy' amid the team's continued struggles, with further issues encountered ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The German outfit have been unable to fix their 'porpoising' issues in the opening rounds of the season, with those problems once again prevalent in Friday's qualifying and the team unable to find the pace in the Sprint to work their way back up the grid.

That has already seen Hamilton declare that the team are 'obviously' not competing with Ferrari and Red Bull for the title this season, although the Brit has also made it clear that he has no desire to vacate his position.

Still, it's easy to see that all is not well at Mercedes and the fallout of the struggles started to come to a head on Friday with Hamilton pictured in fierce discussions with team principal Toto Wolff following the exit in Q2.

Coulthard has now had his say on the situation and has issued a frank assessment of the position that Hamilton and Mercedes find themselves in, stating: “Inevitably he’s not happy about that. The team are not happy about it. It is going to be a long hard slog.”

Hamilton himself has a similar assessment of the team's position, warning that it would be a 'painful year' for the team, saying: "It will be a painful year that we have to ride out together. Hopefully, we can rectify it at some point in the year, or worst-case scenario, by next year."

Meanwhile, Hamilton's teammate George Russell has similarly had issues with the Mercedes car since his move to the team ahead of the 2022 season but has managed to find slightly more pace – sitting 11th on the grid at Imola.

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Prior to yesterday's Sprint, Russell was sat second in the Driver's Championship, behind Charles Leclerc, but has been leapfrogged by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz – while Red Bull have overtaken Mercedes in the Constructor's Championship.

Hamilton is sixth in the standings behind his teammate, the Ferrari pair and the Red Bull duo, with a season-high finish of third at the opening race of the season in Bahrain – then finishing fourth in Australia.

A tenth-placed finish in Saudi Arabia means that Hamilton has not finished outside the points so far this season but he faces his biggest challenge to date at Imola, particularly given he was unable to work his way through the midfield in the Sprint.

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