Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were the most successful combination in Formula 1 history. Between 2013 and 2024, they won six world championships and 84 Grands Prix.
And yet, it looks as if Mercedes are a better team following Hamilton’s exit. After five races, the Silver Arrows sit second in the constructors’ championship on 111 points.
George Russell has flourished as the team’s lead driver, while rookie Kimi Antonelli has been immediately impressive. He’s doubled Hamilton’s points tally from the first five races of 2024 (38 vs 19).
The car appears to be better this year, but writing in his column for The Telegraph, former F1 designer Gary Anderson suggested this may not be a coincidence. Mercedes could be on for their best showing of a troublesome ground-effect era.
Gary Anderson says Mercedes have taken a new approach without Lewis Hamilton – and it’s working
Anderson believes Mercedes are finally accepting their limitations this season, and it’s paying off. McLaren are 77 points ahead at the top of the standings.
Hamilton launched some ‘wacky’ set-up experiments in his final years at Brackley to try and find the car’s illusory sweet spot. But a back-to-basics approach has made the team more ‘stable’, as Russell’s 100% top-five record proves.
Hamilton was naturally a dominant figure within the team as the most successful driver in the sport’s history. But Anderson wonders whether that had become a problem by the time he left.
He wrote: “Throughout Mercedes’ struggles from 2022-2024 I always said that they should attempt to get the best from what they have, rather than trying to find a magic bullet to get them back to winning races again in one go.
| RACE | RUS | ANT |
| Australia | 3 | 4 |
| China Sprint | 4 | 7 |
| China | 3 | 6 |
| Japan | 5 | 6 |
| Bahrain | 2 | 11 |
| Saudi Arabia | 5 | 6 |
“The former is exactly what George Russell and Kimi Antonelli appear to be doing this season. Russell is the only driver to have finished every race in the top five and the Mercedes this year appears more predictable and stable, even if it is not a race-winner yet.
“I actually believe this turnaround may be because Hamilton is no longer at the team. Mercedes clearly couldn’t not listen to Hamilton’s feedback in those difficult seasons because of the years of experience and success he had with the team.
“Whether behind the scenes or openly, they had to treat him as the No 1 driver and take his input seriously on how to make the car better. The more inexperienced Russell was likely left hanging off the back of that a little.
“We often heard Hamilton saying he was experimenting with the set-up compared to Russell just doing the best with what he had underneath him. I think Mercedes will be thriving as a team and as a group of engineers by not having Hamilton there.”
Lewis Hamilton’s former engineer explained how he differs from Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes are no longer subject to the same publicity after losing F1’s biggest star. Of the ‘big four’, they have received the least attention.
The focus has been on the intra-team battle at McLaren, Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari and Verstappen’s one-man title charge at Red Bull. But this may suit Toto Wolff.
Wolff says Antonelli is already winning Mercedes over at the age of 18. The team believe he has a superstar-level ceiling.
In a private paddock conversation, Peter Bonnington said he can ‘really mould’ Antonelli this year. Hamilton was already a world champion when he arrived, while the Italian was a rough diamond.
