Lewis Hamilton launches own investigation as rival team’s floor catches his eye

Lewis Hamilton is exploring all possible angles to give Mercedes information to improve their position. He even took a look at the AlphaTauri floor to see if there was anything useful for the team moving forward.

The seven-time world champion said he takes pictures of each car to give back to the team and hopes to find areas for improvement if he fails to finish on top, which could end a second straight winless season. Sunday in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton said he was fully committed to the Mercedes team in Brackley and would take any extra time he could find, with “fingers crossed” he could be useful to the team this winter.

Lewis Hamilton takes “pictures” of each car, including the underside of AlphaTauri.

Red Bull design expert Adrian Newey never keeps his famous laptop too far from the grid, but he’s known to take a quick look at any other car when he gets the chance. ‘Inspector Seb’ is the nickname given to Sebastian Vettel when he looks at his rivals’ cars and Hamilton looks set to help Mercedes return to the top of Formula 1. . field.

Without a win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the longest race of the Mercedes driver’s illustrious career, his quest to return to winning ways continues unabated as the Silver Arrows recover from this year’s slump. Asked if the 2023 podium and pole position were signs of improvement from last season, Hamilton told Channel 4: “I don’t know.”

“We won last year in Brazil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean things will get better. We started the season 1.5 seconds behind in Bahrain. “Of course it’s great to have made progress and we’ve seen the progress this car has made, so it’s going to be a big issue in the winter.

“But I stayed and kept in touch with the head of aerodynamics and I see him every week: ‘How are we doing and what are you doing?’ Where is the progress? Have you tried this? “I was taking pictures of all the cars I’d seen under AlphaTauri recently and I came back and thought, ‘Hey, there’s this.’

“You try to find everything you can pass on, but they know a lot anyway.”

Hamilton went into the weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix with a mathematical chance of beating Sergio Perez in the drivers’ standings, but the man seven P1 points behind admitted it didn’t matter to him anyway.

But Mercedes now head to Abu Dhabi with Ferrari and, with the end of the season just four points away, the crew will want to finish on a high note to boost the team’s morale. When asked if second place in the Drivers’ Championship was his goal, he smiled and said: “It doesn’t really matter to me.” “I’ll sit down at Christmas and say, ‘Oh, I’m not second. I’m not the third place, I’m the third place or the second place”. “What I’m proud of is that I know how hard everyone at the factory has worked and that I got second place in the team.

“It’s been a tough two years for everyone, but to come back like this, fighting for second place in the championship, is amazing.”