Mercedes shared Lewis Hamilton’s “self-doubt” as they target “happy ending”

Mercedes trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin has admitted the team shared Lewis Hamilton’s self-doubt during their difficult spell in F1.

Mercedes won just one race between 2022 up until last month’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The team has endured a remarkable downturn in form since their run of title success as they have struggled to get to grips with this generation of F1 cars.

However, recently, an upgrade in Monaco has seemingly turned their season around with George Russell winning in Austria, while Hamilton returned to winning ways at the British Grand Prix.

Following his first win in nearly three years, Hamilton spoke about the doubts he had - and whether he still had what it takes to win in F1.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Shovlin spoke about the doubts Mercedes had as an organisation after producing a “third bad car in a row”.

“It’s inevitable and I think the whole team has had a period of that,” he said. “When we launched our third bad car in a row. We’re all wondering why have we made that mistake and how have we done that again.

“It does have you questioning what you’re doing. I think the fact we’ve not had a competitive car made it difficult for Lewis because he’s a driver who is just born to win races.

“It’s been a tough few years for him having had so many difficult results. It’s not like he’s had all bad races because he’s got George, who’s an incredibly fast driver and a difficult person to beat. Lewis has had his fair share of races where he’s been ahead of George. It’s just that we weren’t able to win because we didn’t have the car to win.”

With Hamilton leaving the team after 12 years for Ferrari in 2025, Shovlin insists everyone at Mercedes is wanting a “happy ending” for the seven-time world champion.

“When Lewis announced he was going to Ferrari, all of us felt like let’s make this year one to remember,” he added. “Let’s go out with something to celebrate.

“So the entire team was hoping that this would be a year that we could get back to winning races and have some results because it would be a real shame if Lewis… absolutely incredible chapter of Lewis’ career that is at Mercedes, if that was to finish with three winless seasons on the trot.

“We’re happy for him, we’re happy for the team. There’s nothing that we want more than for that chapter with Lewis to finish with a happy ending.”