1979 Ferrari world champion on Mercedes’ challenging period: “They had it so easy before”. Jody Scheckter reflects on the difficult period of Mercedes.

After the period of dominance in the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes started the ground-effect era on the wrong foot. The team led by Mike Elliot introduced a too daring project, without sidepods, which did not pay off. Both the W13 and W14 were difficult machines to understand, being on the front row one day and in third place the next week.

Even former Ferrari world champion Jody Scheckter struggled to understand what happened, and, in a recent interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, he praised Lewis Hamilton’s work. “And thank God for this situation, they used to win so much before… It’s hard to understand what happened. Lewis Hamilton remains strong, but in the past, they had it easy, the car dominated and was superior: in certain Brazilian GPs, for example, he passed everyone and climbed from the back with to the top absurd ease. Now, they are struggling, and we have to see if they will return to the front.” – the former Ferrari driver pointed out.

Last year, Lewis Hamilton had acted as a “guinea pig” to test various setups and profiles, which led him to finish the season well behind George Russell. In 2023, however, the story was different, and the young man from King’s Lynn struggled to keep up with his teammate’s pace. Commenting on the situation, the South African admitted, “I thought George Russell would give him more trouble, but he remained strong as he was in 2021. On speed, I don’t know, over time you gain more experience and maybe lose something. But the seven-time champion is doing a very good job.” – concluded the South African business proprietor and former motor racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1980, winning the Drivers’ Championship in 1979 with Ferrari.