F1 News: Lewis Hamilton "Counting Down the Days" Until 2024 Car - "Painful"

Lewis Hamilton has all his faith rested in the game-changing 2024 F1 car

After struggling for pace through most races this year, Lewis Hamilton has been waiting for the W15 in 2024, which as per reports, would be a title contender next season. 

The W14 won't be able to receive any form of upgrade from next year's car since the parts won't fit. The car was third fastest at Monza last weekend, right behind Red Bull's RB19 and Ferrari's SF-23. 

Lacking severely in top speed, George Russell and Hamilton finished 5th and 6th in the Italian Grand Prix. 

Though the W14's pace helped him climb up the order, it was nowhere close enough to challenge the RB19s. Speaking on the contrast between qualifying and the Grand Prix, Hamilton said:

"Races are pretty straightforward for me, I've just got to do better in qualifying, so it's not such a difficult day.

"And just living with the car that we have at the moment. Today is the third fastest car, and it's obviously painful for all of us. We wish we were quicker. But we're just counting down the days until February."

The Mercedes team might be witnessing some great results with the development of their W15 car as former F1 champion Damon Hill hinted at the team coming up with a 'title contender. He said:

"I think they’re beavering away back at the factory in Brackley furiously and they probably have a title contender in their back pocket.

"They just can’t use it this year because it won’t fit on this particular car, so it won’t be until next year when we’ll see that.”

Team Principal Toto Wolff expressed a similar notion. Sounding confident about next year's F1 car, he added:

"The direction our team is developing is really quite interesting. We see opportunities and we are not shying away [from anything]. We are leaving no stone unturned, and looking at every single concept that we’ve seen on other cars.

"That is whether that’s powerful or not and whether it’s of any use for us, without letting ourselves be distracted from the way we operate, and the way we analyse. We are going to come up good.”

The answer to most problems being faced by Mercedes currently points to the 2024 car. Hamilton's latest comments add weight to the notion that intriguing developments have been taking place behind closed doors in the Mercedes garage.