P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Hamilton: Aston’s rollercoaster F1 season highlights risk of Red Bull copy
The Mercedes team knew early on this season that their car was not competitive, so they started a concept overhaul for the Monaco Grand Prix. However, they concluded that the improvements made this year were not enough, and they are now working on a major overhaul for their 2024 car. Mercedes spent a lot of effort understanding the development direction they needed to take, rather than blindly copying Red Bull ideas. Aston Martin’s struggles throughout 2023, as they tried to copy Red Bull’s car, showed the difficulties of making progress in Formula 1. Hamilton mentioned that it is not as easy as simply copying a car, as seen with Aston Martin. Mercedes cannot throw away their current design and start from scratch, but instead must take the good parts and continue to improve through trial and error. Hamilton observed that the Red Bull car, driven by Verstappen, performed very well and was super-stable, allowing the driver to fully utilize their abilities. Verstappen was able to control the race from the front and rarely broke a sweat throughout the season.
