Hamilton hopes W13 upgrade delivers this time

Michelle Foster
Lewis Hamilton's W13 bodywork. Britain July 2022

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's W13 bodywork. Britain July 2022

With Mercedes having previously introduced updates that haven’t lived up to expectations, Lewis Hamilton is hoping for a “different” outcome with his new Silverstone parts.

Yet to win a grand prix this season, Hamilton stands on the cusp of an unwanted record in his Formula 1 career.

Should he fail to add a ninth British Grand Prix win to his tally come Sunday, he will extended his win-less run to 11 races, his longest-ever streak.

So far this season his best result has been two third-placed finishes, Bahrain and Canada, the latter seemingly a step forward for Mercedes.

This weekend the team is hoping to take another stride in the right direction, bringing various updates for the car including a new floor.

“It is always nice having upgrades,” said the Briton.

“The amount of incredible work that goes on in the background is quite overwhelming. And it’s phenomenal to see just everyone with their heads down staying focused and delivering.

“It’s always a big push to bring these components to a race, particularly under the circumstances we’re all faced with this year, in terms of the cost cap, for example.

“So I’m very proud of everyone, very grateful for everyone’s incredible hard work and I hope that it reflects when we put it on the track, because earlier on in the year, for example, we did put an upgrade on and weren’t able to extract it all.

“So I hope that that’s different this time.”

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott confirmed the arrival of the upgraded package in the build-up to the race weekend.

“We will be bringing new bits to Silverstone, we will be trying to push the car forward,” he said, “trying to get some pace from the car we’ve got or from the package we’ve got as well as the new bits we are going to add to it.”

Toto Wolff, however, warned that the team still has a “mountain to climb” before they can challenged Red Bull and Ferrari for race wins.

He added: “A lot of work is needed to get to the front, but we have a clearer direction now. We’re focused on finding more and more performance as the season progresses.”