Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he doesn’t “care” where he finishes in the Drivers’ Championship this season, with the seven-time World Champion instead focusing on developing the car ahead of 2024.
2023 has been another tricky year so far for Hamilton and Mercedes, due to Red Bull being far superior once again.
Hamilton has performed better than he did last season, but he’s still yet to claim a win in the new era of Formula 1.
Also, unlike last year, he’s had the better of team-mate George Russell, who he was defeated by in the standings.
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Simply beating his team-mate isn’t what Hamilton wants to be doing though, with the 103-time race winner wanting to return to the very top.
As things stand that simply isn’t possible with the W14, resulting in Hamilton “looking further down the road”.
“I really don’t care what position I finish in this year,” Hamilton told Channel 4.
“I’m just focused on just trying to give the best development information for the team, working with the guys to make sure we steer this car in the right way and when we start the first race or the first test next year we hit the ground running.
“We don’t have bouncing, we have the rear downforce we need and the car’s efficient and we can keep up with everybody, that’s my dream. So I’m looking further down the road.”
As mentioned, 2023 has been a better season than 2022 for Hamilton, and also for Mercedes.
It took the Silver Arrows half a season to eradicate their porpoising woes, before they could truly start developing the dreadful W13.
With it having come on the back of Hamilton’s controversial 2021 title defeat, it made for an incredibly “difficult” season for the British driver and the team.
“Last year was very, very, very hard. I can’t even put words how difficult it was for the team,” Hamilton admitted.
“The car was just…I can’t say anymore and obviously the work we’ve done in terms of towards the end of the year. Obviously we had a good race [in Sao Paulo] but then to start this year, again, kind of on the back foot.
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“It’s definitely been a much more positive year for us, I think we’ve made bigger strides. We’ve had some good results on the podium, it’s more it’s really hard to predict where we’re going with the steps that we’re starting to take.
“We have a new wing this weekend [at Silverstone] so it’s not a huge update, but people work so hard just for that wing so I’m hoping that it helps us take a step in the right direction. Bit by bit as we bolt on these things, the car’s becoming more and more of a race car.
“Look if we’re competing like last year towards the end of this season, on one side that’s a good thing on another, the other teams have probably switched off and focused on the next year.”