Mercedes will move back to a cockpit that is further away from the front wheels

Toto Wolff has committed to having Mercedes change the position of its Formula 1 cockpit on the 2024 car following Lewis Hamilton’s discomfort. Indeed, the British driver complained during the Australian Grand Prix weekend that he was not satisfied with the cockpit position in the W14. According to him, his team placed it too far forward, compared to Red Bull’s RB19, which is leading the constructors’ championship.

However, the team is unable to change this position during the 2023 season. The 2024 W15 being the first opportunity to rectify the problem, and Wolff has stated that they will move back the seating position after Hamilton reported issues.

What did Hamilton declare?

“When you drive, you feel like you’re sitting on the front wheels, which is one of the worst sensations when driving a car,” explained Hamilton to the media in Melbourne. “If you were driving your car at home and the wheels were pulled under your legs, you wouldn’t be happy approaching a roundabout.”

This is not the first time that the seven-time world champion complains about the behavior of his car. Since the introduction of the new cars in the 2022 season, Lewis Hamilton has been facing problems, including the porpoising phenomenon. This bouncing phenomenon, caused by a too low floor, greatly hindered his driving and caused severe back pain for him at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year. The Mercedes did not absorb the bumps on the long straight of sector 3, unlike the Red Bull. Hamilton had a hard time getting out of his car.

Wolff assures that Mercedes will find “a compromise”

“It changes the attitude of the car and the way you perceive its movements, making it more difficult to predict than when you are sitting further back, more centered, and that’s something I really struggled to cope with,” regrets Hamilton.

In response to the seven-time world champion’s comments, Wolff revealed in Azerbaijan that the change would only happen in 2024, although he doesn’t think it’s a “real problem”.

“We don’t consider it to be a real engineering issue, but just to eliminate it from the equation, we will change the position to optimize the car and ensure that the driver is seated in a good position,” he told the media.

(D) George [Russell] is rather relaxed when it comes to the seating position, but for Lewis, it’s important, so we will find a compromise, assures the Austrian boss.

The resolution of this problem, not being able to occur this year, Lewis Hamilton will have to find other solutions to have a better season than in 2022. The British driver had finished 6th, 35 points behind his teammate. He had not won a single Grand Prix in the season, a first in his career.