---
title: "Hamilton: Mercedes must ‘figure out’ current issues before focusing on next year"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2022/05/31/hamilton-mercedes-must-figure-out-current-issues-before-focusing-on-next-year/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Hamilton Lyndon-Griffiths"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2022-05-31T10:09:11Z"
modified: "2022-05-31T10:09:12Z"
---

# Hamilton: Mercedes must ‘figure out’ current issues before focusing on next year

Lewis Hamilton has urged Mercedes to get on top of the issues plaguing its 2022 Formula 1 car before switching its attention to next year.

Mercedes is undergoing its longest winless streak in the V6 hybrid era after finding itself on the back foot at the start of this season.

In a bid to extract more performance from the W13, the German manufacturer introduced upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix, which Hamilton felt had made the car “way better” to drive.

But despite its breakthrough, the team faced fresh problems in Monaco when Hamilton and team-mate George Russell complained of bouncing.

There has been talk that Mercedes could right off this year’s championship and begin to focus on its 2023 challenger, but Hamilton has called on the team to continue working on the W13.

“I’ve really not thought about that,” Hamilton said, as quoted by RaceFans. “I think we’ve got to figure out what’s wrong with this car before we can make another car. If we just started making another car we could easily get it wrong.

“So I think it’s about getting on top of this one fully, which we still haven’t got on top of and then give us a guideline of where \[to go\].”

He added: “There’s definitely loads of things that I would not want from this car onto next year’s car, so I’ve already put those in.”

Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff explained the stiffness of its car had caused the bouncing around the Monte Carlo circuit, dismissing suggestions its previous aero problems had returned.

“I think we haven’t had porpoising returning,” Wolff said. “We are bottoming out. We are just hitting the ground in a very different way, the car is too stiff, too low.”

While it has made progress since the start of the year, Wolff remains dissatisfied with the team’s current position as it appears no closer to the frontrunners.

Russell was the quickest Mercedes driver in qualifying, albeit eight-tenths slower than Charles Leclerc’s pole time, while neither he or Hamilton could match Ferrari and Red Bull’s race pace.

“I think we are the third team,” Wolff said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “We’re not second and we’re not fourth. We have two extremely strong drivers, but it is a huge annoyance for all of us that that the gap is about the same.

“If you’re looking at it optimistically, it’s five tenths. If you’re looking at it pessimistically, it’s more than eight tenths. And that is clearly for all of us at Mercedes not acceptable.”

He added: “I think we’re learning at the moment at every track. Literally every kilometre that we’re doing is an important lesson on how we can improve the car, to be honest.

“But we just need to get out of this no man’s land in which we are at the moment.”