by VALERIO BARRETTA
Hamilton underdog, Mercedes responds
The man with 104 career pole positions is 8-1 down against his teammate. Strange start to 2024 for Lewis Hamilton, who before the World Championship announced his farewell to Mercedes to go to Ferrari. Precisely this market coup is the basis of the explanation that the Briton’s fans find to analyze the difference in performance between the seven-time world champion and George Russell, who is also 14 points ahead in the World Championship.
During the Canadian weekend, Hamilton himself stated that the car in free practice seemed completely different to the one he drove in qualifying and the race, while in the post-GP he did not respond to the encouragement of Toto Wolff, unnerved by the management of Mercedes, who in the end he put hard tires on him instead of the medium ones.
Allison’s words
The team, however, does not accept the narrative of a boycotted Hamilton. Technical director James Allison stated how this approach is ridiculous: “If you try to see things in these results that aren’t there, as if Lewis somehow had a systematic disadvantage on qualifying day, this is not true and it is not right“, these are the words of the British a Beyond the Grid.
“The cars are identical. The use of the engine is identical“, he continued. “If the cars are different in terms of set-up, it is because they are the indications that the engineering team on both sides of the garage have received. But they have the ability to have identical things if they choose to do so. On one occasion, in Monaco, they had a different front wing on the car because we only had one available and we decided that we would fit it as soon as possible and that we had to choose between one and the other. We talked and Lewis said he would leave it with George“.
#Hamilton #boycotted #Mercedes #Allison #Unfair #false #rumours
