In 2022, a back-and-forth of apology on the Mercedes‘ team radio was witnessed race after race. The team had gotten the new regulations so wrong that the season became a year-long test run for them. At Baku, Hamilton climbed out of his car, grabbing his back in severe pain. It was a visual testament to the Silver Arrows’ construction error. The trackside engineering director of the team, Andrew Shovlin, sheds light on how Lewis Hamilton had to walk on a very dangerous path to bring the team back on ‘track’.

Unaware of what had gone wrong back at Brackley and Brixworth, the German team ran many versions of W13. They still continued faltering at the track whereas their rivals were going places. Hoping to hit the bullseye, Mercedes sometimes even ran a different setup for their two drivers. The British engineer admitted that sometimes they gave Hamilton a car they knew was dangerous.

“There were some hard points where we knew that the car that we gave them in Baku, in Montreal, in Imola and all those races – it was bordering on dangerous.”, said Andrew Shovlin to Motorsport.com as quoted by PlanetF1.

He further added, “And that certainly focuses your attention to make sure that we dig ourselves out of that position and start giving them something that they can race in again.”

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It was a relief to see that the paddock didn’t have to see a repeat of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix again. The team eventually did make steps in the positive direction.

Hamilton overcame a personal challenge to help the team

The second half of the 2022 season saw the 8x champion team make strides in development, with them eventually finishing 1-2 at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Shovlin acknowledges the importance of someone with experience like Lewis. Hamilton stood by the team like a shield when everything seemed to go against them, even after the nightmare he had endured in Abu Dhabi, in 2021.

Shovlin said, “The whole team has been through a lot with Lewis, and it’s great that we have such an experienced driver when we’ve had such a challenging year. I think for Lewis it was particularly challenging coming off the back of 2021. He knew how he wanted to respond in 2022 and we were unable to give him a car to allow him to play that role. And it was definitely a difficult time. But I think the process has been good for the team.”

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The sands of time are now at the dawn of the 2023 season. It will be a fun ride to witness what the team can provide their drivers with. What are your predictions for the Brackley outfit for the upcoming season?