Hamilton ‘takes snapshots of every car’ and admits intrigue in AlphaTauri floor

After seeing their dominant run abruptly halted at the start of F1’s new regulation era in 2022, Mercedes have endured two difficult seasons and face the prospect of going winless for the first time since 2011. 

Hamilton has still turned in an impressive campaign to secure third place in the drivers’ championship behind the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. 

Asked by Channel 4 if this season had been better than 2022, the seven-time world champion said: “I don’t know. I mean, last year, we had a race win in Brazil, but it doesn’t really mean it’s necessarily getting better – we still started the season a second and a half down in Bahrain.

“You know, it’s nice definitely to be progressing and we have seen progress with this car, so fingers crossed for winter.”

In a bid to help Mercedes improve their W15 car design for the 2024 season, Hamilton revealed he has been following what other teams have been doing. 

The 38-year-old Briton said he takes “snapshots of every car” and was particularly intrigued by the floor of the AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s sister team. 

“But I’ll be staying. I’m in touch with the head of aero and I’m just checking up on him every week like: ‘How are we doing and what have you tried? Where’s the progress? Have you tried this?’” Hamilton explained. 

“I take snapshots of every car. I saw underneath the AlphaTauri the other day and I went back and was like, ‘hey, they’ve got these things on their floor.’ You know, you’re just trying to find everything that you can pass on, [but] they know most of the stuff anyway.”

Hamilton, who has not won a grand prix since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, has one more opportunity to end his and Mercedes’ winless drought at this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.