Lewis Hamilton is clearly not pleased with Mercedes, as they have once again designed a car that is unable to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari.
In fact, it seems Aston Martin have even leapfrogged the Silver Arrows this year, so 2023 is shaping up to be a challenging year for the seven-time world champion.
Following last weekend’s season-opener, Hamilton seemingly accused Mercedes of owing him an apology for not taking his feedback on board.
Specifically, he said he wants “accountability” from the team for not listening to him.
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“Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton claimed on BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast.
“Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.
“And I think it’s really about accountability, it’s about owning up and saying ‘yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’.
“We’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team, that’s what we do.
“We’re still multi World Champions you know, it’s just they haven’t got it right this time, they didn’t get it right last year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get it right moving forwards.”
While Hamilton’s comments may well be true, there’s virtually no benefit for him to publicly divulge this and throw his team under the bus after just one race of 2023.
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After all, it is Mercedes’ brilliance which has pretty much carried Hamilton to six of his seven world championships, and countless race wins and podiums.
So, it seems to me that Hamilton owes Toto Wolff and the Mercedes F1 Team as a whole an apology for making these remarks.
It was especially disappointing to hear Hamilton throw his team under the bus given how he strives to be a role model for his millions of fans.