Lewis Hamilton set to struggle at Australian Grand Prix with Mercedes not bringing F1 upgrades

Lewis Hamilton faces another difficult weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, with the struggling Mercedes team unlikely to take a step forward in performance.

The Brackley-based squad are not bringing significant upgrades to the race at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, which means that the chances of them being able to challenge frontrunners Ferrari and Red Bull for the victory are slim to none.

Mercedes have won every constructors’ championship since 2014 but have dropped down the grid order this season after failing to nail the transition into Formula 1’s new era of technical regulations. Each team has had to completely revamp its car design for 2022 with F1 altering its rules in an effort to allow cars to follow one another more easily and for drivers to race each other harder.

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen’s terrific, tactical tussles for the lead during first two races of the campaign in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have shown that the new cars are indeed fulfilling their purpose.

But with a car which is suffering from intense bouncing at high speed on the straights, and which is simply slower than its rivals through the corners, Hamilton and team-mate George Russell are competing for midfield points rather than race victories.

Team principal Toto Wolff broached the team’s poor form in his preview of the Australian race, writing: ‘At the moment, our track performance is not meeting our own expectations, but everyone at Brackley and Brixworth is focused on understanding the problems and finding the right solutions.

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