Mercedes chief makes Lewis Hamilton F1 title admission

Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta has admitted that Lewis Hamilton being involved in the Formula 1 title race “makes the sport better”. 

Former Mercedes driver Hamilton has been in resurgent form during his second F1 season with Ferrari and currently sits second in the world championship, 45 points behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli and five clear of George Russell. 

Hamilton, who won six of his seven world championships with Mercedes between 2013 and 2025, is now emerging as the biggest thorn in the side of his former team as he spearheads Ferrari’s bid to end its F1 title drought. 

“First of all, it’s great to see both drivers performing at a very good level,” Resta replied when asked how it feels for Mercedes to be fighting against Hamilton. 

“There have been some ups and downs in the various races, but fundamentally both of them have been very strong so far, with good performances. This is very good because it lifts the level between the two of them. 

“This challenge within the team is always very important for the overall competitiveness of the team. That is what matters to us. 

“It’s great to see Lewis fighting at the front. Lewis has had an incredible journey in Brackley, and the run is still very close to him emotionally. So it’s great to see him there. It’s great to see him fighting. It makes the sport better, so it’s nice to see.”

Mercedes believes it has now solved the mysterious power unit woes that have been afflicting Russell’s car at recent races. Resta said a now-detected software issue had “affected George more than Kimi”. 

“The software is the same for all the cars, and it was there in every car, but it affected George more than Kimi,” he said. 

“We also need to bear in mind that, when comparing their performance in the last few races, Kimi was on a fresher power unit, which is, of course, always a bit better than quite a used power unit. That will change in the next races when we start to have a fresher power unit on George’s side. 

“So, there’s a bit of everything. There’s a bit of software, but there’s also Kimi being out of phase with George’s programme. You sum up everything when you look at the final result.”

Asked how important it was for Russell that Mercedes took his worries seriously, Resta replied: “First of all, as a team, we’re really thankful to George for having challenged us and highlighted an opportunity where we needed to focus. 

“He has been really good at understanding and highlighting things to us. We have finally been able to identify the solution and put a fix in place for this race. So, thanks to George for having done that for us, for the team.

“Of course, he’s quite pleased that we’ve been able to get to the bottom of it and sort it out. It has been good teamwork. It wasn’t the easiest thing. As I said, with the new regulations, there are still a lot of things to learn. But it’s a step forward.”