Lewis Hamilton takes another swipe at Mercedes car and vows to get ‘a little cheeky’ | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton has taken another swipe at his Mercedes engineers as the Silver Arrows continue to struggle despite improvement in Australia. The Briton laughed as the seven-time champion stressed he didn’t like driving “not great cars” in a subtle dig at his Mercedes mechanics.

Mercedes have been unable to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull this season in a blow to Hamilton’s title ambitions. He made the revelation when asked whether he still loved the sport after 15 years behind the wheel.

Speaking to Fox Sports Australia, he said while laughing: “I do love it, I don’t like driving not great cars. I don’t like driving a car that’s not the cars we were meant to have.” However, the Briton stressed he still enjoys battling behind the leaders in a bid to steal as many points as possible.

The 38-year-old stressed he was fired up to get a “little cheeky” in a bid to get one over on his rivals. He added: “I Iove that challenge of what can we do with it, wins are not possible right now so what’s the maximum we can get?

“Can we be a little cheeky and if fifth is the best we can get, can we get a fourth or a third? Just make sure we are consistent and fit and ready so all of a sudden when the car does all of a sudden switch on and it is the car you dreamed of having, you’re ready.”

His latest remarks come just weeks after Hamilton blasted his engineers over the direction of the W14. He claimed team bosses hadn’t listened to him over the development of the new machine ahead of the season.

Hamilton had even demanded engineers “own up” to their mistakes and demanded “accountability” despite the squad’s no-blame culture.

After his comments, Hamilton appeared to double down on his criticism as the multiple-time world champion admitted he was satisfied telling bosses they had got things wrong. He commented: “I’m one of those people that always likes to be right, but I’m not always right, but, in this scenario, I was right.

“So it was good, it was like – ‘I told you’. It’s a team collaboration. At the end of the day I’m the driver not the designer, but I’m the gateway to the car’s performance.”