Lewis Hamilton teases Mercedes have “step forward coming” as Miami upgrade revealed

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Mercedes are bringing an upgrade to the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

Mercedes’ disappointing start to the 2024 season continued at the Chinese Grand Prix as George Russell finished sixth, three places ahead of teammate Hamilton, who recovered from 18th on the grid.

After the first race in Shanghai for five years, Hamilton said Mercedes have “a step forward coming” that will be introduced at the next round in Miami.

"I'm grateful to just get into the points. I didn't honestly expect a lot more this weekend,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"Hopefully we have a step forward coming at the next race. Until then, we will be back at the factory next week and try and position the car better for Miami and hopefully have a better weekend.”

Despite Mercedes making vast changes to their car design for 2024, the W15 has proved to be a source of frustration for Hamilton and Russell due to its inconsistent and underwhelming competitiveness.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the upgrade should “hopefully” bring “a bit” of performance.

"I think considering where we put the cars altogether, drivers and team, was not a good position for today. Not good enough overall,” he told Sky Sports F1.

"Lacking pace. We have got to dig deep. We have got something coming for Miami that looks like a good step, let's see where that brings us out.

"It's not an OK car. We can see what the mistakes are on the car. We wanted to go a bit more aggressive to see if it was something so different we needed to do on that car and you can see Lewis today took it on him, that was maybe a step too far.”

Mercedes leave China fourth in the constructors’ championship, 143 points behind Red Bull and 44 adrift of third-placed McLaren, one of the German manufacturer’s customer teams.