It is very difficult to summarize Mercedes’s season but this one instance from the recently concluded 2023 Brazilian GP might serve the purpose. This instance highlights exactly how big a gap there is between the team’s expectations and the reality. It also highlights the helplessness of Lewis Hamilton and not just during the Brazilian GP.

This instance is from a point in the race where Hamilton gets an instruction from Peter Bonnington (Bono), his race engineer. The reply to Bono’s instruction showcases how Mercedes has rendered the seven-time world champion helpless.

Lewis Hamilton can’t help but laugh at his own misery during the 2023 Brazilian GP

The Brit got a good start in the Brazilian GP but soon, similar to the sprint race, fell down the order with the W14 being a complete diva, as Toto Wolff called it. The W14 did not have the pace and high tire degradation to ruin the race of the Mercedes men. This is exactly why both the Mercedes men were asked to look after their tires.

However, after one point, it was time to go racing and close that gap and get the lost positions back. Or that’s what the Brackley team at the pit wall thought. This is perhaps what invoked the instruction from Bono.

He said, “Let’s use the tires now.” To this Hamilton replied, “I have been for the last 5 laps dude“ with a chuckle. However, we know that the chuckle was out of frustration and not because he was enjoying his time on the track.

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The chuckle was more for the cluelessness of his team on the state of the car with hints of hysteria. That is how abysmal the Brazilian GP was for Mercedes. This is exactly why Peter Windsor trashed the comment from Toto Wolff in the post-race analysis.

Peter Windsor trashes Lewis Hamilton and Co. for the Brazilian GP performance

The F1 veteran was quick to point out how Mercedes is taking two steps forward and one step back despite their best attempts. However, according to Windsor, these aren’t Mercedes’s best attempts as the other teams are showcasing that if a path is wrong, it can be changed and changed drastically.

Windsor said, “So Mercedes came away from this race thrashed by McLaren Mercedes, their customer team. Thrashed by Aston Martin Mercedes, another of their customer teams, and beaten by Alpine Renault as well. Toto Wolff on the radio right at the end to Lewis saying, ‘Lewis, this is unacceptable, we can’t go from where we were to where we are now in one race.’ Well, Aston Martin did, Aston Martin went from nowhere to where they were in Brazil, so that’s one counter to that point.”

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Did Hamilton make a mistake by signing the contract extension? Will Mercedes ever get back to the top? The Brackley outfit needs to take a hard look at itself before the 2024 season.