Lewis Hamilton feels a bit nervous about Mercedes’ new upgrades for the United States Grand Prix. The seven-time champion thinks it might be tricky to get everything right, especially with only an hour of practice, which puts extra stress on their simulations.
Mercedes was doing well before the summer break. Hamilton finally ended his long winless streak by winning at Silverstone and then snagged another victory in Belgium, partly due to his teammate’s disqualification. But since then, they’ve fallen behind Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari.
Is Hamilton hopeful for a turnaround?
There are just six race weekends left for Hamilton with Mercedes, including the one in the U.S. Toto Wolff mentioned that the team wants to give him a strong send-off and plans to do so with some upgrades. They tried changing the floor in Belgium but didn’t keep it for the important sessions. Now, though, Hamilton says they’ve figured things out.
“They’re always on the move,” he said at COTA. “They’ve had time to look at where we went wrong. We’ve been out of sync with others who got upgrades when we didn’t.”
Hamilton admitted they lost their way a bit with the car setup. “We tried squeezing more from this car that’s slowly wearing down,” he explained. “I think we now know where we went off track and hope to find a better balance this weekend.”
Austin will use the sprint format, meaning just one hour of practice. Last year, Hamilton got disqualified here due to a worn-out plank. He knows getting everything perfect right away is tough.
“Unless you’re lucky and it works immediately, it’s hard,” he said. “Last year I barely changed anything and it felt great from the start, but that’s rare.” Fans might wonder if these challenges will hold back Mercedes again.
Hamilton also noted that everyone faces similar pressure, which makes simulations crucial even if they haven’t been ideal recently. “We’ve made plenty of mistakes but hopefully can start better this time,” he added.
What do you think? Will Mercedes bounce back or face more hurdles?
