Mercedes-Benz

LEWIS HAMILTON’s positivity about his upgraded car is a “good sign”, says F1 legend Damon Hill.The Silver Arrows demonstrated their best car performance in the Spanish Grand Prix, with both Hamilton and George Russell finishing on the podium.
Hamilton finished second in the Spanish GPCredit: Alamy
F1 Champion Damon Hill spotted a good sign for HamiltonCredit: Getty
Hamilton, 38, finished second behind only Max Verstappen, as Red Bull showed there is still some way to go before they can be caught. 
Mercedes brought its first major upgrade package of the season, including a new bodywork, revised floor and front suspension configuration.
The seven-time world champion revealed it was the best he’d felt in the car for 15 months.
F1 legend Damon Hill said: “it is a good sign” that Hamilton is positive about his car again after his public criticism of his Mercedes team this season.

Hill said: “To hear Lewis say ‘I’m enjoying driving the car’. That’s a good sign.
“They have gone and done what he has been pleading with them to do and they have seen some progress, so well done Lewis.”
He added: “Mercedes showed in the race they’ve leapfrogged the threat from Aston Martin and Ferrari on a circuit.
“I think there are encouraging signs there for Mercedes definitely”.
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There is renewed optimism that the Silver Arrows’ revised car design can help deliver them a much needed boost in the form of a victory.
Both Hamilton and team-mate Russell managed to hold off Sergio Perez, who started 11th on the grid.
Rivals Ferrari continued to struggle for pace, and Aston Martin were not as competitive as they have been at other circuits this season.
This comes as Hamilton made no attempt to hide his dissatisfaction with the lack of progress made from last season.
Speaking to the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast in March, he said: “Last year, I told them the issues related to the car.
“Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”
Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year

The double-podium finish at the Spanish GP will be encouraging for the 38-year-old.
Mercedes can continue to improve for next season, where they hope to challenge for the title – which would be a record eighth for Hamilton.
It comes after Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confidently insisted he will keep leading the team until Hamilton gets his historic eighth championship.
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The British icon has achieved 2 podium finishes so far this season and is fourth in driver standings, 83 points behind leader Verstappen.
And he will look to get on the podium again at the Canadian GP next week on June 18.
Hamilton achieved their first double podium of the season at the Spanish GPCredit: Rex More

LEWIS HAMILTON reserved special praise for Mick Schumacher after Mercedes secured their first double podium of the season.Following upgrades brought in prior to the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton and team-mate George Russell were able to show off what their newly-improved car can do in Barcelona yesterday.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both secured a place on the podium in BarcelonaCredit: Rex
Mick Schumacher has drawn praise for his contributions as reserve driverCredit: Rex
Hamilton, 38, rolled back the years to secure second place, while Russell finished third.
After standing on the podium with Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Hamilton made sure to give Mercedes reserve driver Schumacher a mention.
Sir Lewis said of the German: “He did a very good job in the simulator.
“That played a part in the fact that we were able to perform like this today.”
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Prior to arriving in Barcelona on Saturday, Schumacher was back at base in Brackley working in the simulator.
According to Bild, Mercedes have been very pleased with the 24-year-old’s contributions as reserve driver this season.
Schumacher, son of F1 icon Michael, was let go by Haas after two seasons at the end of last year but is hoping to return to the grid in 2024.
He endured a difficult start to life In Formula 1, with Haas possessing an uncompetitive car in his first season – before a series of unfortunate incidents in his second.
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Haas elected to replace him with veteran Nico Hulkenberg this term, with team principal Guenther Steiner complaining at the cost of damages caused by Schumacher’s crashes.
The Italian revealed in his book that Schumacher’s various smashes had cost the team £1.7million, before adding: “We lose a car after five minutes and now have to build another.
“I cannot have a driver who I am not confident can take a car around safely on a slow lap. It’s just f***ing ridiculous.”
Bristling at one particular crash that cost £550k to repair, he added: “How many people could we employ with $700,000 (£550,000)?
“And I have to now find that money.”
There’s no love lost between Schumacher and Guenther SteinerCredit: AFP More

LEWIS HAMILTON will meet Mercedes boss Toto Wolff tomorrow to thrash out terms over a new deal.SunSport understands that Mercedes have only offered Hamilton, 38, a one-year extension, taking him to the end of the 2024 season.
Hamilton is set to hold contract talks with Mercedes on MondayCredit: Getty
The Brit finished second in the Spanish GP on SundayCredit: Getty
However, the seven-time world champion is eyeing up at least a two-year contract, worth around £100 million.
Hamilton was quizzed about his future after he finished second in the Spanish GP and said: “I haven’t signed anything yet. But we’re meeting with Toto on Monday, so hopefully we can get something done.”
When pressed by SunSport on the details of the meeting, Hamilton added: “It wasn’t a subtle hint, we’ve had so many meetings.
“It’s just another one of the meetings we’ve been having. You can see today my result, my performance isn’t affected by that.”
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Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 in a shock move from McLaren but he has won six of his seven titles with the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton has struck up a solid relationship with boss Wolff, who is now one part in a three-way ownership of the Mercedes F1 team.
The two both currently live in Monaco and have made it clear that they intend to commit to extending their partnership.
There had been concerns about Hamilton’s desire to remain in F1 as he has been hamstrung in his fight for wins by Mercedes’ poor car.
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However, he maintains that he has never lost his fight – but does admit that getting a deal signed will give him an added boost.
He said: “It is always something at the back of mind, so once it [the contract] is done you can focus on the future.
“But I am working as hard as I can with this team and I can see so much strength.
“The podium was special to see the excitement with all the people I have worked with for such a long time.
“There will be some great energy in the office but soon after that people will be back to the books and thinking about how to win the next race.
“My hunger has never shifted. I am in a great place in my life and really happy with the team I have around me.
“I have all my ducks in a row. All the guys are doing a fantastic job. I feel fit and healthy and that was a solid race.
“I want to keep going but I want to be where Max is and I am super focused on getting to that point. There is a long way to go but there is still time.”

SunSport asked Mercedes if the hold up on the deal was due to the length of the deal.
A spokesperson said: “There are no stumbling blocks.” More

MERCEDES enjoyed their best result of the season to give some hope of breaking Max Verstappen’s F1 stranglehold.The Red Bull man romped to his fifth win in the opening seven races – with all of this season’s grands prix being won by the Milton-Keynes based team.
Max Verstappen celebrates winning the Spanish GPCredit: Reuters
The Red Bull star cruised to a serene victory to continue his team’s dominanceCredit: AP
But there is renewed optimism that the Silver Arrows’ revised car design can help deliver them a much needed boost in the form of a victory.
While Verstappen was comfortably quickest here in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton was second and George Russell was third.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was fourth, despite having started in 11th place, one spot ahead of Russell, who had clashed with Hamilton during qualifying.
Verstappen got a good start as did Hamilton, who moved up a place when he passed Lando Norris into the first corner.
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But as they squeezed into Turn Two, Norris went into the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes causing damage to his own car.
Norris was forced to pit while the contact shuffled Hamilton out of place and allowed Lance Stroll to move into third place.
The kerfuffle behind him was of no interest to Verstappen, who had opened up a two-second lead after only four laps.
Despite his first-lap set back, Hamilton pulled back into third place as he went around Stroll into turn one on lap eight.
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Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes showed signs of lifeCredit: AFP
It was an encouraging weekend for Hamilton and the Silver ArrowsCredit: Getty
Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year

Russell was also making in-roads and he passed Esteban Ocon to move into fifth on lap 11.
Early pitstops for Carlos Sainz and Stroll moved Hamilton and Russell into second and third place respectively.
Hamilton made his pitstop at the end of lap 24 while Russell made his stop a lap later.
Verstappen was the second to last driver to pit on lap 27, but he had built up such an advantage that when he returned to the track, he was still leading the race.
Hamilton powered his way into second with a straight-forward overtake on Sainz into Turn One on lap 35.
And it was not long before Russell was back into third place when he passed the Spaniard who was beginning to drop like a stone.
It was encouraging for the Mercedes duo, although Hamilton was still 16 seconds adrift of runaway leader Verstappen while Russell was a further 10 seconds behind.
Mercedes pitted both drivers for fresh tyres leaving them free to hunt down Verstappen, who was on the hard tyre.
But the Red Bull man had such a lead he was again able to make his own pitstop to preserve his lead.
In the final few laps, he came close to earning a five-second time penalty for running wide and exceeding track limits.

Despite warnings from his race engineer to slow down and avoid a penalty, he ignored the instructions to set the fastest lap to earn the bonus point.
He then coasted home to a comfortable 24 second lead over Hamilton and opened up a whopping 53 point lead in the championship over Perez.
Neymar poses with singer Rosalia at the Spanish GPCredit: Getty
Ben Chilwell, Joao Felix and Mason Mount pose with F1 chief Stefano DomenicaliCredit: Getty More

LEWIS HAMILTON and George Russell clashed on track during qualifying for the Spanish GP.It is the first time the two have made contact – with Russell accepting he was to blame for driving into his Mercedes team-mate.
The two Mercedes drivers collided on the straightCredit: Twitter/SKYSPORTSF1

While Russell was eliminated from qualifying in the second session, Hamilton will start the Spanish GP in fifth place.
But he was still half a second off the pace of pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who continued to blow away the rest of the field.
The Dutchman’s pace was so superior he was comfortable to abort his final flying lap, despite looking like he would better his provisional pole.
Hamilton and Russell’s flashpoint happened on the way down to Turn One with Russell driving into his team-mate.
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The contact broke off a piece of Hamilton’s front wing and will no doubt spark off an internal investigation.
But this was a routine pole for the championship leader, who looks untouchable.
Verstappen said: “The car was really good. It was initially tricky with the weather but it started to dry out and the car was on rails.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start in second place with McLaren’s Lando Norris qualifying in third place, his best starting position of the season.
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There were early spins for Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon as the drivers initially struggled with the damp track on slick tyres.
The FIA took no chances to stop the session when Albon went off, sending stones scattering all over the track.
But that was not an excuse for another woeful performance from Ferrari, who saw Charles Leclerc qualify down in second-to-last place.
While he initially complained of problems with his car’s set up, Leclerc was then held up at the weighbridge and ultimately ran out of time to set a quick lap time on the drying track.
The second qualifying session saw two more scalps as Russell was eliminated after his clash with Hamilton.
Russell was given the boot from Q2 and will start in 12th place after labelling his performance as “nowhere”.
The Mercedes man was also joined by Sergio Perez as his title challenge continues to wilt at an alarming rate.
The Mexican made an unforced error and ran into the gravel and eventually paid the price after he was eliminated and will start outside the top 10 in 11th place. More

LEWIS HAMILTON partied with two of the biggest football stars on the planet after Sunday’s Monaco Grand prix at a Travis Scott concert.Brazilian forward Neymar was in attendance at the prestigious race to witness the Brit finish fourth in Monaco.
Lewis Hamilton was joined by a host of stars at a rap concert following the Monaco GPCredit: Getty
Neymar ditched PSG’s title celebrations to attend Sunday’s race in Monte CarloCredit: Getty
Klylian Mbappe was spotted smiling at the Travis Scott gigCredit: Twitter
A clip then showed the Frenchman laughing with Hamilton at LillysCredit: Twitter
The 31-year-old, who is reportedly desperate to join Manchester United, was joined by Paris Saint-Germain team-mates Marco Verratti and Gianluigi Donnarumma by the track to watch the action.
Neymar, who skipped his team’s title celebrations earlier in the weekend, was then spotted performing media duties as Hamilton recorded an Instagram video of himself cycling past the Samba ace.
The former Barcelona man then called out to the seven-time world champion, only for the Brit to ignore him.
Hamilton later tagged Neymar and wrote “My bad bro” alongside two laughing emojis with the footage.
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But it led to an hilarious response from Neymar as he replied with a swift “F*** u” and several laughing emojis.
And it was clear to see that there were no hard feelings as they enjoyed a concert by rapper Scott later that night at Lillys Club in the Principality.
Hamilton ditched the overalls and let his hair down for the gig with Neymar and his PSG strike partner Kylian Mbappe also in attendance.
Videos emerged of the star-studded line-up at the concert, with Hamilton and Scott’s friendship going way back.
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Clips show both Hamilton, 38, and Neymar at Lillys Club and, according to Twitter account Utopia, the likes of Kevin Durant and Justin Bieber were also there too.
Scott previously travelled to Jeddah to catch up with the Englishman after the Saudi Arabian GP.
And he also attended a party hosted by Hamilton back in 2018 in association with Tommy Hilfiger.The Mercedes star will now be hoping that he can continue his recent upturn in form this weekend at the Spanish GP. More