James Allen says Mercedes have been doing something ‘very unusual’ with Lewis Hamilton this season

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It has been a mixed season for Lewis Hamilton having taken a stunning victory at this year’s British Grand Prix, but suffered from an underwhelming second half of his season.

The seven-time world champion suffered from two nightmare races during the recent triple-header, retiring after four laps at the US Grand Prix and suffering terribly from balance issues in Sao Paulo.

Hamilton was uncharacteristically slow in the wet conditions, which Peter Windsor put down to the lack of confidence he was experiencing in his Mercedes.

He was even overtaken at one point by Franco Colapinto, before managing to hold off Sergio Perez for 10th and deny the only driver who is below him in the Drivers’ Championship the chance to improve his points tally.

Discussing Hamilton’s recent form on Talksport, journalist James Allen believes Mercedes has been doing something ‘very unusual’ with Hamilton’s car this season.

Lewis Hamilton not getting upgrades at the same rate as George Russell

Mercedes has introduced a significant upgrade to their W15 at the US GP, which aimed to address some weaknesses, although Andrew Shovlin confirmed that they still have a fundamental problem to figure out for next year’s car.

Hamilton has not received the same full upgrades as Russell, which Allen believes is ‘unusual’ considering the seven-time world champion’s history within the team.

“It’s these little development parts that are put on the car that make a big difference and that can really move you up and down the grid,” said Allen.

“George Russell is getting those parts and Lewis isn’t, which is normal stuff when a driver is leaving a team but it’s just very unusual for someone of his calibre to be doing it.”

Karun Chandhok ‘excited’ to see if Lewis Hamilton does one thing after Ferrari move

After taking six titles with Mercedes, the results have stagnated for Hamilton with just two victories between 2024 and 2022.

Ferrari has arguably overtaken them in the development race with their major upgrade package introduced in Monza and has since won on a variety of circuits, including the US and Mexico.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton told he’s ‘struggling’ with the same issue that forced Daniel Ricciardo to retire

This should give Hamilton confidence, considering it was looking like they were struggling with a problem that he faced at Mercedes during the 2022 season.

Karun Chandhok is excited to see if Hamilton can rediscover his ‘mojo’ while at Ferrari, having been consigned to finishing in the mid-pack for most of the latter years at Mercedes.