Lewis Hamilton has reached the limits of his patience with Mercedes, as stated by ex-Red Bull racer Robert Doornbos.
Struggling for two consecutive years under the latest ground-effect rules, the seven-time champion continues to face challenges with his Mercedes, having been outperformed by his teammate, George Russell, in all three qualifying sessions in 2024 so far.
"I can't really comment on that," remarked Russell in Melbourne.
While Russell admits that the newly designed silver car is not quite on the pace, he finds its handling to be within manageable limits. Conversely, Hamilton appears to be battling to maintain control.
"I can't say I'm surprised. I'm disappointed, yes," the 39-year-old Briton expressed.
"I wouldn't say this is one of the most difficult moments," he noted after not making it into Q3 in Melbourne. "It's exactly like the last two years."
Regarding the ongoing challenge of being consistently outperformed by his teammate, Hamilton shared, "I don't know if I'm dealing with it that great. I mean, three qualifyings in a row that he's out-qualified me. It's all difficult to understand."
Mercedes had hoped that by moving on from the problematic 2022-2023 car design, the new model would provide a more reliable basis for development, despite being notably slower in fast turns at the circuits prior to Australia.
"We are too slow everywhere here," Team Principal Toto Wolff conceded in Melbourne.
"It's annoying how long I've been talking about it but we just need to keep working," he continued. "It's not because we're not trying hard enough, but we are where we are. It's an illusion that we can get closer to Red Bull anytime soon," Wolff acknowledged, yet remained hopeful, "I also have to keep believing that there's more in this car."
Between 2014 and 2020, Mercedes dominated the championship titles, with Hamilton claiming the world championship every year except one.
Is the team losing its direction?
"The processes are the same as in previous years," a Mercedes engineer not named disclosed to Auto Motor und Sport. "They can't be that wrong, unless the others are suddenly doing everything differently."
In contrast, Red Bull's situation is significantly different.
"At Red Bull, they know exactly which parameters they need to change in order to be in the car's sweet spot," former F1 driver Timo Glock commented to Sky Deutschland. "That's the big advantage."
Hamilton's dwindling confidence in Mercedes, highlighted by his early decision to switch to Ferrari in 2025, might now reflect a diminished drive to even seek improvement.
"They've been messing around with that car for two years," Doornbos mentioned to Ziggo Sport. "I can understand if Lewis is done with it."
