Mercedes chief ‘given ultimatum in emergency meeting’

Mercedes technical director has apparently been handed an ultimatum to fix Lewis Hamilton’s car after a lengthy meeting at Brackley. According to Italian site Formu1a.uno, chief Mile Elliott was handed an “ultimatum” to revive the project after a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix. 

They claim a meeting which carried on until “late at night” was held at the factory on Wednesday. It comes days after Hamilton pointed the blame at Silver Arrows bosses for the car’s failure. 

The seven-time champion accused the team of not listening to him over what direction to take the new 2023 machine. The British F1 icon also suggested he wanted the German manufacturer to “own up” to the mistakes. 

He told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast: “Last year, there were things I told them. I said the issues that are with the car. I’ve driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn’t need.

“I think it’s really about accountability. It’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? We didn’t listen to you. It’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’. We’ve got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points and just huddle up as a team. That’s what we do.

“We’re still [multiple] world champions, you know? Just haven’t got it right this time. Didn’t get it right last year. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get it right moving forwards.”

The team struggled to match the pacesetters in Sakhir with Hamilton finishing almost a minute behind Max Verstappen. However, the rise in tension will be a shock to fans due to Mercedes well reported no blame culture in place in the organisation.

Toto Wolff tasked Mercedes’ engineers to come up with a new concept after the W14 struggled on its debut. Wolff accepted the team had taken the wrong direction and that he didn’t feel the current model would be capable of fighting for titles. 

The Austrian has already revealed a new blueprint was already being tested ahead of the next rae in Saudi Arabia. He told ORF: “It’s been done in the wind tunnel, but it’s not just about the sidepods or how the car looks from the outside. 

“We have to dig into the data and decide which direction to go in.”