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Lewis Hamilton reveals that the challenge he faces this season ‘keeps him up at night’, reaffirming that his main focus is at Mercedes before his move to Ferrari in 2025.
Since the new ground-effect regulations were introduced in 2022, the Brackley team has struggled massively. Previous to the 2022 season, the Silver Arrows won eight constructors’ championships in a row since the introduction of the turbo hybrid era in 2014, guiding Hamilton to six of his seven world championships.
However, Mercedes have only won one race in the ground-effect era. George Russell led home a Mercedes 1-2 at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Hamilton, meanwhile, has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Despite many changes in concepts, Mercedes are still struggling in 2024, firmly competing in the midfield and are nowhere near challenging at the front. The disappointment persuaded Hamilton to make the move to Ferrari in 2025, leaving Mercedes after being with them since 2013.
Mercedes challenge “keeps me up at night”
Hamilton had another difficult race last time out in Suzuka at the Japanese Grand Prix. The 39-year-old finished 48 seconds off the race lead in ninth, struggling for pace.
The seven-time world champion is experiencing one of the worst starts to a season. He finds himself on 10 points from the opening four rounds of the 2024 season.
Despite Ferrari having clearly the better package than Mercedes, Hamilton insists that his main focus is still at Mercedes, which “keeps me up at night”.
“I think ultimately if you dwell on difficult times, then there’s only one way you’re going,” the 39-year-old said.
“I think it’s really good to be able to unplug, reset and reset your focus and your goals moving forwards. And so, I have a few of these other things.”
The seven-time world champion insists that he is still hungry to fight for race wins with Mercedes before making the move to Ferrari:
“But still the ultimate thing that keeps me up at night is, ‘when are we going to be fighting for wins again?’”
“‘What can I do different? What can I do better in the car? How can I improve in qualifying? How can I deliver more for the team? What different set-up things can we take?’
“Those things still keep you up. But we win and we lose as a team. We’re very united. Everyone’s working incredibly hard, so we just got to continue at it.”
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