“It feels like we’re racing pretty much the same car”: Lewis Hamilton makes worried admission about Mercedes’ W14

Lewis Hamilton was disappointed with the performance of the Mercedes W14 after the Miami Grand Prix practice session on Friday, saying that the car feels like the 2022 W13.

Although Hamilton was the second fastest in FP1, he dropped down to seventh after the second session, close to how the car has been performing this season. In his post-practice comments, he said that he "felt better" during the previous races in Melbourne and Baku, where he finished second and sixth respectively, than in Miami.

"Melbourne obviously was night-and-day difference. Much, much nicer to drive there. Baku felt better than here also. I think maybe the heat or maybe it’s just the balance we have at the moment."

Although the team has been working to improve the W14's performance, Lewis Hamilton said that it's performance is close to the W13, which gave a lot of trouble to the seven-time world champion in Baku last year.

"I’m going to stay optimistic and stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place tomorrow and maybe be a couple of steps up. But it feels like apart from last year we had hardcore bouncing, it feels like we’re racing pretty much the same car, that’s the difficult thing."

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Mercedes looking forward to bringing regular upgrades in 2023 as Lewis Hamilton and Russell struggle for pace

Although the Mercedes W14 is supposedly a significant improvement on the W13, it is still struggling for pace. After the first race of the season in Bahrain, team principal Toto Wolff said that a major upgrade will see a change in the design concept of the car later in the season.

He recently also mentioned that the team will try to bring in upgrades regularly at almost all of the races soon. F1 quoted him as saying:

"We will consistently be bringing upgrades to the car over the next few races, which is something to look forward to. But there is no such thing as a magic bullet that transforms the car, and it's about being realistic with your expectations. Hopefully we will see a steady improvement."

Mercedes are currently third in the constructor's championship, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth in the driver's standings. Their challenge currently is Aston Martin, however, the British team's performance has been a little poor recently compared to the start of the season.

Ferrari is also looking stronger now with more pace, and the Scuderia could turn out to be yet another challenge for the Silver Arrows.