Lewis Hamilton hoping for 'the greatest six months of development' for Mercedes in order to catch up with Red Bull 

Lewis Hamilton feels that it will take a great effort from Mercedes to counter Red Bull’s dominance in 2024. The Briton believes that his team have a long road ahead, and it will take them six months of rigorous development work to produce a championship challenger.

Speaking to Rachel Brookes of Sky Sports after the 2023 Japanese GP, Lewis Hamilton felt the Mercedes W14 was very similar to its predecessor in terms of the development curve. The British champion claims the car is still bouncing and sliding and is far from being a front-runner.

Asked about their car’s progress this season compared to its predecessor, Lewis Hamilton said:

“Feeling wise, the car felt just the same as last year, its bouncing and sliding. So that’s tough given how much work we’ve done to progress and we’re not any closer to the front, at least here.”

On his inputs for next year’s car development, the Briton said:

“There are things I’ve asked for that we’ve gone in a direction, part of the direction for next year. I think all the points that George and I give I think have been fully listened to. In terms of, I don't know where the car is going to be next year. But we are a long long way."

He added:

"We got to hope for the next six months has to be the greatest six months of development that we’ve ever ever had to close that gap, to be really banging on the door. But the evidence there at the McLarens, we can’t turn a blind eye to that. We’ve got to look into what they’ve done and go into that direction, that is the direction. But I truly believe my team can do it.”

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and seventh in the Japanese GP, far from their competitive form of targeting a podium or aiming for a potential victory. The Silver Arrows squad was also outpaced by their Mercedes-powered rival, McLaren, who claimed a double podium in Japan.

The British champion believes the Woking outfit could have a car concept to draw inspiration from for their 2024 car. He felt that unless the next six months are the best developmental months they’ve had, it is going to be difficult to make a mark.

The Mercedes W14, with its ‘no sidepod’ design, was far behind its customer-team cars. While the team updated the car with sidepods and a revised floor to improve its performance, it is still far from challenging a Red Bull or competing with a resurgent Ferrari and McLaren.

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Lewis Hamilton believes that the Mercedes W14 is a master piece

With Toto Wolff claiming that Mercedes are ready to bin their car at the end of the season, Lewis Hamilton felt it was still a collective effort of the entire team.

The British champion felt that it would be unfair to the thousands of employees and their efforts that went into building the W14. Empathizing with the team workforce, he felt the 2023 car was a masterpiece on its own.

He felt the team had a lot of learning to do in the 2022 and 2023 seasons and was positive they would eventually manage to develop a competitive car.

Speaking to on-site media in Japan, Lewis Hamilton dismissed the idea of binning the W14, saying:

“We won't ever bin the car of course. These cars are still masterpieces, really, even if they're not the fastest car in the world. Two-thousand people have worked so hard to build these things and they will continue to be a part of our history and our learning curve."

He added:

"There will be bits of it that we try to change, try to hold on to some of the positives because there's always positives, good and bad sides, and so we're trying to hold on to the positives.”

He added:

“With the new direction we have, it's far too early to say we can be optimistic about next year's car because we are just in the process of going into that but I have full faith in the crew that they're going to take it in the direction that it needs to go. There's been a lot of learning in these past two years so if we haven't figured it out by next year then obviously we will just keep working away at it, but I'm hoping that they have.”

In contention for second place in the championship, Lewis Hamilton is 33 points behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. Mercedes are in second place in the constructors’ championship but are leading by a narrow margin of 20 points.

With six more rounds on the calendar, the battle for second place in both the driver’s and constructor’s championships is expected to go down to the wire.

The British champion has mentioned before that second place in both the drivers and constructor’s championships remains the target for the remaining races of the 2023 season.