Lewis Hamilton not planning to leave Mercedes despite W14 frustrations and poor start to F1 season

Lewis Hamilton has no plans to leave Mercedes despite his frustrations over the design of the new W14 car which has contributed to the team’s disappointing start to the F1 season.

2022 champion Verstappen finished first with teammate Sergio Perez just behind him in second, while Hamilton finished fifth – 50 seconds behind Verstappen – with his Mercedes team-mate George Russell seventh.

“In hindsight, I think looking back it wasn’t necessarily the best choice of words,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

“Of course there are times where you’re not in agreement with certain team members, but what’s important is that we continue to communicate, continue to pull together.

“I still have 100% belief in this team, it is my family and I’ve been here a long time, so I don’t plan on going anywhere else.

“But we all need a kick, we all need to get on – the proof is in the pudding, we’ve seen where the performance is and how people are extracting the performance, and we’ve got to now start making some bold decisions, some big moves in order to close the gap to these guys.

“Hopefully at some point during the year, we’re hopeful we might be able to close the gap but at that point it will be probably too late in terms of fighting for a championship, but we can still turn some heads hopefully.”

Hamilton is one of a number of drivers that feel uncomfortable returning to Saudia Arabia this weekend after last year’s race was dominated by a missile strike by Yemeni rebels.

Drivers have been assured by Saudi authorities and F1 that their safety is not under threat, with measures put in place to avoid a repeat of last term’s events.

Although Hamilton refused to answer any questions on the subject during the media day on Thursday, he insisted F1 was “duty bound” to raise awareness of human rights issues.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was one of a handful of drivers to speak up and claimed that no one enjoyed being there last year.

“Last year was pretty, erm, special. None of us enjoyed it, he said. “But it is a different situation now, there is a different political… there is a ceasefire between the two parties that were involved last year and that gives some confidence.”

“Anyway, we go to these places and we just have to deal with it the best we can and get through.”

“It was scary what happened last year,” Alpine’s Esteban Ocon added. “And none of us wants to ever experience something like that.

“We trust everyone around to put us in a safe situation to race.”