‘We mean business’ – Lewis Hamilton sends message to F1 title rivals at Mercedes car launch

Sir Lewis Hamilton has vowed to‘do what’s necessary to win‘ as Mercedes launched the striking W14 car on Wednesday.

The seven-time world champion endured the worst year of his career in 2022, finishing an F1 season winless for the first-time ever and ending up sixth in the standings – 214 points off champion Max Verstappen.

This was down to the underperformance of the Mercedes W13, which suffered from infamous bouncing problems, with the team who had dominated the sport for the last eight picking up just one win all season, courtesy of George Russell in Brazil.

They hope to get back to winning ways in 2023, with Hamilton saying: ‘I have been a part of this team for over a decade and the efforts of everyone never cease to amaze me.

‘To see the evolution of the car and the changes that have been made is fascinating. We’ve redesigned, optimised, and innovated so many parts of the car and that is impressive.

‘And I love the new livery! It says, “We mean business!”.’

After reverting back to the traditional silver paint scheme for the W13, the W14 sports an incredible black livery similar to the one used from 2020 to 2021.

That livery was adopted as a means to promote diversity in the sport in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement – something that has become all the more relevant with the FIA attempted to stop drivers from making political statements.

Nearly every racer on the grid has spoken out against these new regulations and Hamilton added that: ‘Nothing will stop me from speaking on the things I am passionate about.

‘The sport has a responsibility to speak out and create awareness on important topics, particularly as we are travelling to different places. So nothing changes.

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