Lewis Hamilton has certainly been on a roll since Mercedes’ new concept was introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix, with the seven-time World Champion having claimed some excellent results.
Since Mercedes parted ways with the ‘zero sidepods’ concept at the Circuit de Monaco, Hamilton hasn’t finished any lower than fourth.
In the three races where he’s had the new concept at his disposal, the 38-year-old has finished fourth, second and most recently third at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s performance at the Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve was perhaps his most impressive yet with the new concept, given that Mercedes weren’t expecting to be strong.
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The Silver Arrows approached the Canadian GP believing they’d struggle, as a result of the Canadian venue boasting several low-speed corners.
Low-speed corners are the team’s current downfall, yet Hamilton still managed to keep up with a very upgraded Aston Martin.
Hamilton battled with former team-mate Fernando Alonso for the entire race, with the duo having duelled for second.
Whilst Alonso got the better of the Mercedes driver, it was still a shock to see Hamilton on the rostrum, based on the Brackley-based team’s expectations.
To add to the team’s delight, Hamilton finished just over 14 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen, perhaps suggesting that the Silver Arrows are making strides towards Red Bull with their new concept.
Interestingly though, Hamilton admitted after the race that the Germans new concept for the W14 feels “very similar” to the concept they scrapped, with the Briton believing many things need to be changed for their 2024 car.
“In truth, it doesn’t feel a huge difference to the beginning of the year,” Hamilton said during the Canadian GP post-race press conference.
“There are some elements of the car which do feel different and obviously with the upgrade but it’s just simply just have a little bit more downforce on the car.
“But the characteristics of the car are very, very similar to what we had earlier on in the year.
“And so we need to…for the future, for the next year’s car, you need to take a lot of these different things off and change them for sure.”
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As a result, Hamilton doesn’t think the W14 will “be able to beat” Red Bull’s sensational RB19, which has won every race this season.
“It’s definitely not the car that… characteristic-wise the car that’s going to be able to beat the Red Bull just yet,” he added.
“And so we’ve got to work on that.”