The seven-time world champion’s Mercedes squad knew early on this season that its W14 car was not competitive, and it embarked on a concept overhaul that was in part ready for the Monaco Grand Prix.
But the team quickly concluded that even the steps it made this year were not enough, and it is working on a major overhaul for its 2024 car.
Much of Mercedes’ efforts this season were spent in trying to get a better understanding of the development direction it needed, so it could lock in the necessary improvements.
While that meant there was a great deal of learning to be done during the campaign, Hamilton thinks it was a necessary price to pay rather than blindly copying Red Bull ideas.
He suggested the up and down form that Aston Martin endured throughout 2023, as it pursued a car very similar to Red Bull, highlighted the difficulties of making progress in F1.
Asked about if there was ever a time Mercedes considered throwing away its current design and starting from scratch with a Red Bull clone, Hamilton said: “The thing is, with the timeline you have, and the limited resources you have, you can’t just throw it away and start from scratch. You can’t copy a car and start from that.
“Look at the Astons. They tried to copy a car and it wasn’t the same. It is not as easy as that. You have to try and take the good parts and through trial and error just try to add other parts.
Source: Autosport