Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has sensationally accused Mercedes of having not listened to his feedback, with Hamilton having told the Germans what was wrong with the W14 before the start of the season.
Mercedes endured a highly disappointing start to the season in Bahrain last weekend, with both Hamilton and George Russell having been comfortably behind race winner Max Verstappen.
Hamilton finished 51 seconds behind Verstappen in fifth, whilst Russell was even further behind the reigning World Champion in seventh.
The W14 currently isn’t a car that’ll be able to challenge for victories, with the team having actually fallen to fourth in the pecking order, behind Aston Martin.
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Perhaps the team would’ve been in a better place had they listened to Hamilton, who has 16 years of F1 experience behind him.
“Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton said 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.”
Whilst Mercedes clearly struggled for outright pace, Hamilton was able to enjoy a great battle with former team-mate Fernando Alonso, who claimed his first podium since the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix.
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Hamilton was pleased to have a “couple of battles” and likened the W14 to some of his former cars at McLaren, with the 103-time race winner being unsure “when or how” the team will return to the front.
“I enjoyed that I managed to have a couple of battles,” said Hamilton. “And it was close, but not quite there.
“And I’ve had many cars like this, particularly back in the McLaren days, and I don’t know when or how we’re going to do it in terms of turning it around, but it’s going to have to happen.”