Lewis Hamilton has urged Mercedes to make further “big changes” to its W15 car following a disappointing opening two rounds to the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Having admitted engine cooling concerns masked its “true potential” in Bahrain, Mercedes was optimistic that its revamped 2024 car would run well in Jeddah.
However, Hamilton struggled throughout the weekend and never advanced higher than eighth, finishing three places behind George Russell in ninth in the race.
The Briton’s hopes of climbing the order were thwarted when Mercedes elected to leave him out when Lance Stroll’s crash on Lap 7 saw the Safety Car deployed.
Although another intervention wouldn’t materialise later in the race to benefit him, Hamilton has defended the team’s decision to gamble on obtaining track position.
“I think it was worth trying something different,” Hamilton said. “You know, splitting the cars and trying different strategies.
“Ultimately that’s always the goal is to do something a little bit different, particularly when we’re in the position we’re in.
“But yeah, I mean I was fighting as hard as I could to go along and I was hoping for a Safety Car or something, but I was just unfortunate.”
He added: “There was not a lot of deg between the Medium and the Hard, so once we lost that 20 seconds it’s hard.
Asked whether he had been hoping to get more out of the Soft compound, Hamilton replied: “I was hoping to but there was not any deg on the Hard tyre.”
Hamilton was tucked up behind Norris during the closing laps but was unable to remain close enough to the McLaren through the high-speed sweeps in the first sector.
He contends that the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix demonstrated that Mercedes has even more work to do to bridge the deficit that left him feeling “in a different category”.
“The car is good in the low, relatively good in the low speed and not so bad in the medium but in the high speed we are miles off,” he lamented.
“The guys were, it was like I was in a different category when I was going through the high speed between the other people, the other guys around me so, it’s frustrating for sure to be in the three years in a row in the same, almost the same position or it’s definitely tough.
“But we’ll get our heads down and we’ll keep working away and know everyone back in the factory is pushing as hard as they can.
“But we’re definitely going to make some big changes. We haven’t made big enough changes perhaps.
“If you look at the three teams ahead of us, they still have different concepts of where we are in some areas. So we’ve got some performance to add to this for sure.”
Hamilton had utilised Mercedes’ straight-line speed advantage over McLaren and some clever positioning at Turn 1 to prevent Oscar Piastri from overtaking him.
While he proclaims that his love for racing has not deteriorated, the seven-time champion concedes that fighting for the lower end of the points is not enthralling.
“I wouldn’t say I’m having fun,” he commented. “I’m racing for ninth, I can’t say that … finishing ninth is definitely not fun.
“I am enjoying the actual racing part and I was hunting and I was pushing as much as I could.
“I was maximizing everything I had with the car, was right on the edge but unfortunately just really lacking performance in the high speed where they were all over us.”
However, Hamilton, who will depart Mercedes to move to Ferrari in 2025, is optimistic that the team can battle further up the grid with enhancements to its W15.
“But there are positives, the car is good in low speed, we have got some areas that we have to add a lot of load in the high speed,” he reiterated.
“I think if we are able to do that then I think it puts us in the fight.”
