Lewis Hamilton has refused to reveal further insight into Mercedes’ planned upgrades after the British driver was asked about his findings from his latest trip to the factory in Brackley.
The legendary Brit made the trip to visit the factory in the break between the Japanese Grand Prix two weekends ago and the trip to the Lusail International Circuit with the plan to inspire the team and gain a greater understanding of the direction that the team are heading in.
Hamilton was left extremely frustrated in the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix after dragging maximum performance from the W14 package, only to be rewarded with an underwhelming P5 finish, comfortably being both McLaren drivers and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of this weekend’s action, Hamilton was questioned by Ted Kravitz, who asked: “Am I right in that you were at the factory in the week between Japan and here? Was there good stuff that you saw?”
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
Kravitz went to continue his line of questioning when Hamilton chimed in with a smile: “I can’t tell you, man, I can’t tell you. It’s all top-secret stuff.” The Sky Sports reporter wasn’t satisfied with this response though, following up: “We all want to know whether you’ve seen something that is spicy, is interesting, is gonna get you where you wanna be.”
Hamilton responded: “From my experience in all these years, firstly [I’m] not an aerodynamicist and you go into the wind tunnel and it’s always mega exciting. No matter what point of the year you go in there’s always new bits coming, there’s bits in the bucket and you know there’s just stuff being tried all the time.”
He continued: “Everyone is unhappy with where we are and where we’ve been for the last couple of years, I know they’re hungry. And that for me, I’m like okay I know these guys, I know they’re chasing and they’re doing absolutely everything they can. So I’m able to then bring that into the weekend.”
With Mercedes now locked into an intense battle with Ferrari for P2 in the Constructor Championship, it is imperative that the Silver Arrows bring impactful upgrades to the remaining six rounds of the season to protect their 20-point advantage.
