Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have ‘paid the price’ as Leclerc thrown under bus

05/21/2023

Hamilton opens up on plans to remain in F1 ahead of 2023 season

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have “paid the price” for experimenting with F1’s new regulations, according to analyst Peter Windsor. He says the Silver Arrows have been punished for not going “outside their own box” with Red Bull benefiting at the start of the new rules cycle.

Windsor called out the team’s decision to focus on downforce which ultimately backfired as they suffered extreme porpoising. Hamilton has struggled since the start of last season with the squad unable to battle Max Verstappen.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc has been called out by a Ferrari boss after comparisons with Verstappen. Piero Ferrari claims Leclerc is not on the same level as Verstappen with the reigning champion benefitting from extra experience.

Domenicali gives Hamilton verdict

Stefano Domenicali wants Lewis Hamilton to fight for an eighth world championship.

He told the Daily Mail: “I’d like him to stay in the sport 100 per-cent, 1,000 per-cent.

“I don’t want to give Lewis any advice because that would be disrespectful to Toto [Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal]. And Lewis has such deep experience that I’m sure he doesn’t need my input because he knows what he wants.

“He loves our sport. He has been in it since he was a child. Now his role in F1 is getting bigger than an F1 world champion, given the way he gets involved in a lot of things outside the sport and takes an active role in society. He takes us towards new dimensions.

“But his love is Formula One, and, of course, he wants to achieve his dream of being the only driver to have won an eighth title.

“Toto is totally focused on making Mercedes improve. He told me he made adjustments within the team to be sure that there is the right intensity to gain performance as soon as possible. I am sure this will happen very, very soon.”

F1 CEO discusses Verstappen threat

Stefano Domenicali spoke with Max Verstappen over the Dutchman’s threat to quit F1.

Verstappen had claimed he would not be involved in the sport much longer if sport bosses continued to pack the schedule.

Domenicali told the Daily Mail: “I discussed the issues with Max (before the last race in Miami). He said he loved the sport and what he was doing. He is world champion and is fighting for a third title. He was born in a car. I would say he is likely to stay longer than me. It’s not a problem.”

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell called out after criticism

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s criticism of F1’s DRS rules have been called out by ex-driver Johnny Herbert.

The two Mercedes stars moaned at the FIA’s decision to reduce the length of the DRS zone at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix which they claim led to a lack of overtaking.

However, Herbert doesn’t back their comments as he highlighted the difficulties backing either side of the argument.

He told Express Sport: “But isn’t it interesting when the DRS is working, everybody sort of goes well overtakes are too easy.

“When it gets to where actually it’s a little bit more difficult then it’s wrong. So it’s wrong when it works but it’s wrong when it doesn’t work.”

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez warned about spoiling Red Bull success

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been warned the pair’s conflict could spoil Red Bull’s success.

The team are enjoying a dominant start to the season with five wins from the first five races.

However, team boss Christian Horner has reiterated the pair have been spoken to in a bid to ensure tensions blowing over.

He said: “The difficult conversation about engaging and making it clear that they’re not in that car just for themselves.

“They represent 1500 employees of our team and all partners and shareholders. So they represent much more than just themselves.”

Scary Nurburgring crash as ambulance rushes to scene after car smashes into barrier

An ambulance has rushed to the scene of a major accident at the Nurburgring Nordschleife after a car ripped through a metal barrier.

Recovery teams were seen working around the damaged Porsche Cayman after the heavy accident during the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

The accident happened at the Stefan Bellof-S towards the end of the 17 mile circuit.

Max Verstappen sent Monaco GP warning as Sergio Perez tipped to be ‘better’

Max Verstappen has been warned that Sergio Perez is likely to be “better” at the Monaco Grand Prix.

According to Damon Hill, Perez could beat his team-mate in the Principality after previous success on street layouts.

It could bring the Mexican back into play in the world championship fight with the ex-Force India star now 14 points behind his team-mate.

Hill told the F1 Nation podcast: “In Miami we saw that Max is really on a different level. Not only compared to Sergio, but compared to the entire grid.

“At circuits like Baku and Jeddah you could see how good Sergio was. I even think he was better than Max there.”

Lewis Hamilton may be left disappointed by W14 upgrades as doubts raised

Johnny Herbert “doesn’t know” whether Mercedes can turn around their struggling W14.

The ex-Sky Sports F1 presenter stressed the Silver Arrows’ package “doesn’t work” and doubts anything the team try could turn around their fortunes.

He pointed the blame at Mercedes engineers for sticking with last year’s philosophy into 2023 despite last year’s poor results.

He told Express Sport: “Will the car come good? I don’t see it no.

“They have the same concept they had last year. They seem to be within the team telling Toto ‘we can sort this out, we know how to do that and we will show you we can do that’ and it’s obvious they have not been able to do that.”

Max Verstappen’s actions ‘say a lot’ as Red Bull driver very different to Hamilton

Max Verstappen organising a virtual sim racing event “says a lot” about his character away from the track it has been claimed. The Dutchman has very different hobbies to Lewis Hamilton and has set up the event to replace the cancelled Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The Real Racers Never Quit event will start on Sunday afternoon when the race in Imola was scheduled.

Atze Kerkhof, a member of Team Redline, opened up on the extent of Verstappen’s passion for racing outside of F1.

He told Motorsport.com: “Max also puts a lot of time and energy into racing outside Formula One.

In comparison, Hamilton doesn’t tend to drive when away from the track as he follows his other passions.

The seven-time champion loves extreme sports such as skydiving and surfing when he is not at a Grand Prix weekend.

Christian Horner shoots down George Russell’s Red Bull verdict

Christian Horner has called out George Russell’s Red Bull prediction as “unimaginable” despite the team’s early season dominance.

Russell tipped Red Bull to win “every race” this season after cruising to a one-two finish in Bahrain.

So far, his tip has turned out to be correct with the team winning all five Grands Prix.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Horner said: “I think that’s a massively tall order.

“I mean, you’ve got 23 events, street circuits, there’s going to be weather that turns up, there’s going to be reliability, strategy, an element of luck.”

Hamilton and Mercedes have ‘paid the price’

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have “paid the price” for not getting the new regulations right last season.

The team have continued to struggle after going with a completely different concept to many other teams on the grid.

Peter Windsor told his YouTube channel: “They just went gung ho for massive downforce on the car and were shocked, I think, I guess, when the car first ran and George [Russell] and Lewis [Hamilton] said “we can’t drive the car, there’s so much porpoising we can’t even see straight.”

He added: “So because of their success, I guess they felt that they could do it, they could move mountains.

“They don’t need to go outside their own box to know how to do it and they paid the price and they’re still paying the price.”

Leclerc thrown under the bus

A leading Ferrari boss has claimed Charles Leclerc has been told Max Verstappen is better at this stage of his career.

Piero Ferrari, son of founder Enzo and a part owner of the company, has spoken out about the gap between the two drivers as he stressed Verstappen has “peaked”.

Although he has the same speed as the Dutchman, Leclerc’s experience and racecraft have been called out.

He explained: “Charles has the speed to be equal to Verstappen. But he has less experience, in terms of number of GPs. Leclerc can still grow, he will grow.”

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