Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Lewis Hamilton played an ‘extremely active’ role in the development of the Mercedes F1 car, former engineer Aldo Costa says.
After starting work at Mercedes in 2012, Costa designed their 2013 W04 car. That happened to be the first Silver Arrow driven by Hamilton, who had just joined from McLaren.
While Hamilton only won one race in his debut campaign, he would win six championships in seven seasons between 2014 and 2020, making his partnership with Mercedes the most successful in F1 history. He holds the record for most wins with a single constructor (84).
Which F1 great is most at risk from losing their achievement to a team’s current driver?
Aldo Costa praises Lewis Hamilton’s technical contribution
Speaking on the Terruzzi Raconta podcast, Costa recalled that Hamilton used to pick out intriguing parts on rival F1 cars and pass them on to the Mercedes technical department.
Costa also raved about the comprehensive nature of the Briton’s feedback. It seemed as if time moved more slowly for him in the cockpit than for other drivers.
Mercedes’ engine superiority ensured a significant gap over the field in the early years of the turbo/hybrid era, but there were later challenges from Ferrari and Red Bull.
When did Lewis Hamilton hit his PEAK?
If we've missed his best year, let us know
Costa said: “He called me on Sunday mornings at home. He’d say, ‘Oh, Aldo, have you seen the Red Bull mirror? What do you think?’
“He was trying to give aerodynamic advice, ‘Have we tried it in the wind tunnel? Why don’t we try it?’
- READ MORE: Jolyon Palmer fears Lewis Hamilton’s driving style is ‘badly correlated’ with Ferrari simulator
“He was extremely active with his way of doing things. He was very talented, he explained the car in thousands of a second. I never understood how he did it.”
Lewis Hamilton has also given Ferrari advice on car development
Speaking after the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton identified Ferrari’s front wing as a potential area of weakness, having noticed that their rivals had gone in a separate direction.
“Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull are doing something different with the front wing to us,” he said, via The Race. “So we need to look into that to see whether or not there’s something we can improve on.”
This is strikingly similar to the calls Hamilton used to make at Mercedes, based on Costa’s account.
Ferrari brought a sizeable upgrade to Miami, focusing on the rear of the car, but the initial results were disappointing. At best, they were the third-fastest team in Florida, and Red Bull’s leap forward should be a concern.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
