Lewis Hamilton’s ‘complete rubbish’ remark will please Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has vehemently denied any suggestion that Mercedes have a ‘Plan B’ for the 2023 season, potentially boosting Max Verstappen’s title hopes even further. Teams try not to read too much into pre-season testing, but it was hard to ignore how good Red Bull – in particular Verstappen – looked throughout the three days in Bahrain.

It was a stark contrast in the Mercedes garage with both Hamilton and George Russell struggling for grip and pace. In a rare move from Mercedes on the final day of testing, Mercedes even appeared to let the reins off Hamilton’s car for him to set a full hot lap.

Teams don’t often give everything away in pre-season testing, opting to hold a little something back for the first race weekend of the year. That still may be the case for Mercedes, but it’s clear that the current package on the W14 isn’t up there with Verstappen’s Red Bull currently.

It led to some reports that Mercedes had a back-up car design more in line with the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari should they feel the need to switch away from the ‘zeropod’ style. If that was a possibility, Mercedes would certainly be seen as more of a threat to Red Bull from the outset with the option of bringing in an entirely different car.

But Hamilton has rubbished rumours of a back-up plan at Mercedes, insisting there isn’t enough resources to be working on two different cars. “I saw people talking about a Plan B – there isn’t one, it’s complete rubbish,” he said.

“Ultimately, we’re living in a time of cost cap, to rebuild and redo the design of a car you have to go back to square one and we don’t have time in a season to do that. So that’s not on the cards. We’ll continue to evolve and build this car, and try to push it to its absolute limit.

“I know I’ve got the best team behind me to close the gap, but it’s just finding that performance as fast as we can.” Verstappen is seen as the strong favourite to win a third consecutive world championship heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix.

There have been some suggestions that Red Bull could even be half a second faster than their closest rival. If true, that’s a significant gap for the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes to try and catch up to over the course of a year.

There are some positives for Mercedes to take compared to last year, where porpoising destroyed their season.

“I think last year when we arrived and we had all those problems all of us…it was like panic mode trying to figure out what was the issue and trying to fix it, and it took us forever to try and fully understand it,” Hamilton added. “This year we’re starting with a car that doesn’t bounce, but it is very similar to last year’s car, but there are some positives there and I think it’s a good foundation to work from.”

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