Lewis Hamilton offers $1m prize for answer to mystery Mercedes W15 question

Lewis Hamilton has vowed to offer a $1million prize to anyone who can work out why the Mercedes W15 remains so inconsistent at this late stage of the F1 2024 season.

Having suffered two consecutive winless seasons in 2022/23, Hamilton returned to the top step of the podium earlier this year by taking an emotional home win at his home race at Silverstone.

Lewis Hamilton wants answer to million-dollar Mercedes W15 question

The seven-time World Champion followed that up with another win at Spa weeks later, collecting a record-extending 105th career victory.

Despite growing confidence that Mercedes have finally cracked the demands of the ground-effect regulations, the team have largely struggled since the summer break with Hamilton finishing no higher than fourth across the last seven races.

His season slumped to a new low at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, where he described the car as “the worst” it’s ever been over team radio.

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Having announced in February that he will join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from F1 2025, Hamilton has just three races left with Mercedes before parting ways with the German manufacturer.

And he has described the second half of the season as “devastating” having hoped to end on a high with the Brackley-based outfit.

He told reporters in Sao Paulo: “It doesn’t feel good, obviously.

“It’s devastating to have these bad races in the second half of the season, but all I can say is we’re trying coming into the weekends, but it’s definitely not acceptable. It’s definitely not good enough.

“We have to take accountability, I have to take accountability, but I am doing the best with what I’ve got.

“For some reason, the car has been the worst of it this weekend and I don’t know what it is. We’re going to have to find out what it is.

“But still, the mechanics did a great job getting here early this morning, practice [pit] stops at 4am and all the work they’ve done on the car throughout the weekend.

“One of the cars was working a lot better, so there’s obviously potential still there.”

Asked why the Mercedes is still so temperamental, he laughed: “You tell me. That’s the million-dollar question. So if you can find it, I’ll give you a million dollars.”

Hamilton had the honour of driving the title-winning 1990 McLaren of his boyhood idol, Ayrton Senna, ahead of Sunday’s race as Interlagos marked the 30th anniversary of the F1 legend’s death.

The 39-year-old described it as the highlight of his weekend, with the Mercedes W15 “no good” by comparison.

He said: “The race was crap but the driving Senna’s car was the best thing ever, so I’m still happy and grateful that I had that experience here at Interlagos.

“An amazing reception from the fans. They’ve been incredible this weekend. The fans turned up, I think, at 3am this morning, so unbelievable commitment from the fans here this weekend.

“And let’s not talk about the car, because the car’s no good.

“Yesterday was terrible, today was terrible. Yesterday was bad. Qualifying was bad. Sprint race was bad. The car’s just been bad all weekend.”

Hamilton’s poor performance came on a day team-mate George Russell led the early stages of the race, before Mercedes’ call to pit shortly before the red-flag stoppage cost him a chance of victory.

Russell’s fourth-place finish moved him two points ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings with three races remaining, with Russell outqualifying his illustrious team-mate 16 times in 21 races – not including sprint qualifying sessions – in F1 2024.

Hamilton claimed he does not “care” where he finishes relative to Russell in the final standings, adding that he just wants “to keep the car out of the wall” at this stage of the season.

He added: “I’m not fighting for the championship. Doesn’t matter really where we finish in the championship. I don’t care if I finish ahead of George or behind George, it doesn’t make no difference to me.

“I just want to keep the car out of the wall and try to score points if I can for the team.

“If they give me a car that doesn’t bounce off the track in the next few races, then hopefully we can get a better result.

“But looking forward to Christmas.”

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