Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes called out for over-exaggerating issues at the start of the season

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were called out by former Ferrari engineer Ernest Knoors for over-exaggerating their issues at the start of the season. The team did not have the best start to the season in Bahrain, where the car was fourth fastest. However, since then, the team has shown remarkable improvements in the next two races, with Lewis Hamilton securing a podium finish in Australia.

Speaking about the situation at Mercedes, the former Ferrari engineer felt that the team and Hamilton over-exaggerated the issues they faced. Speaking to Motorsport.com after the Australian GP, Knoors said,

“Of course this is not yet what they want. Mercedes naturally thought ‘we want to fight for the championship again this year.’ Hamilton naturally always wants to be in front of Russell within that team, those are things that haven’t fallen into place. I think that’s why Hamilton said ‘we are in crisis.’ I always thought that was a bit of an exaggeration."

Knoors felt that George Russell's retirement was arguably a bigger concern for the German team as their reliability used to be a strong point for them last season. He said,

“Now they have something that breaks. That is perhaps more of a concern than the pace they said they missed. I actually think that the crisis was exaggerated a bit by Wolff and Hamilton. Maybe it was more that Hamilton was not feeling good than that the car was really bad.”

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Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will be second or third

Sharing his predictions for the season, Knoors felt that the season might be a bit topsy-turvy for the German outfit. The gap to Red Bull is too big and with the Austrian team appearing to be far more stable, it will be tough to overhaul. He said,

“I think Hamilton and Mercedes in general will just be second or third. One can hope that when they bring a different concept or further development, they will further close the gap to Red Bull.”

It will be interesting to see if there is any team that could take the challenge to Red Bull this season. This especially given the kind of dominance the team has shown in the first few races.