Hamilton getting rid of buttons and getting used to left at Mercedes

2013 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Lewis Hamilton says he’s getting used to life at Mercedes – starting with his steering wheel.

“It is a bit like starting all over again,” he said when speaking to the media in Jerez today. “I remember in 2006, going into 2007, just having to learn all these new controls, all these different procedures that you had to do. It’s all fresh and new again in this car.

“On the steering wheel I think I’ve got at least double the amount of buttons and switches that I had on my previous one. I’ve already got rid of quite a few of the buttons as soon as I got here.

“But I still have way more than I had before. And the engineers and just the way the team works is different to what I’ve experienced so it is like starting from fresh.”

Hamilton got behind the wheel of the car for the first time today and will have his first proper run in testing on Wednesday.

He will get just six days in the car before the first race of the season at Melbourne. “I’ll maximise every second that I have in the car,” he said.

“Even just now I got out of the car and made some notes in a little notepad. Just every second I do get in the car, there’s so much going on and there’s so many things you comment about.

“Whether it be the ride of the car to the pit stop lights or the buttons on the steering wheel. There’s so much to think about. Or just the way they speak to you, the way that they refer to certain things. They keep saying things I’m not familiar with, it’s all new procedures.”

Hamilton admitted it felt strange to arrive at the track and drive past the McLaren motorhome: “It definitely was”.

“I got here last night and as I drove in normally we stop a little bit further up the paddock and, yeah, just driving past my normal motorhome and buses it was very strange to drive past.

“Normally I’m looking out for them and I had no idea where this team was. And, yeah, putting on a different suit… I don’t know, it doesn’t feel a huge difference but of course when we were unveiling the car I really started to realise this is a massive difference to what I revealed before.”

2013 F1 season


Browse all 2013 F1 season articles

Image © F1 Fanatic

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

29 comments on “Hamilton getting rid of buttons and getting used to left at Mercedes”

  1. Hamilton getting rid of buttons

    I’m sure the pun was 100% intended.

    1. I hope so too :)

    2. The title made me LOL. Nice one @keithcollantine

    3. Another keith classic !

      1. +1

        P.S. Awful lot of typos recently Keith.

    4. That headline has to be comment of the day!

    5. At Soviet McLaren, Buttons get rid of you!

  2. FlyingLobster27
    4th February 2013, 19:09

    When I read “Hamilton getting rid of buttons”, I thought “yes, that’s what he left McLaren for”…

    Ok, that was rubbish. Next joke please.

  3. “Getting used to left at mercedes” ? @title

    1. I didnt get it too @keithcollantine

    2. I’m guessing he meant “life”

    3. I’m guessing it’s like Bugs Bunny “Should have turned left at Albuquerque”. When Hamilton arrives at the pit compound he has to turn left at Mercedes (… to enter their motorhome).

  4. @keithcollantine – just a quick typo keith

    “On the steering wheel I think I’ve got at least double the amount of buttons and switches that I had on my previous one. I’ve already got rid of quite a few of the buttons as son as I got here.”

    I presume that is supposed to be as soon as I got here

  5. The Jenson button was first to go. It had been there since 2009. Now only Kimi’s got one of those.

    1. “The Jenson button was first to go. It had been there since 2009. Now only Kimi’s got one of those.”

      Me like :)

  6. petebaldwin (@)
    4th February 2013, 21:04

    “When we were unveiling the car I really started to realise this is a massive difference to what I revealed before.”

    Poor Lewis… It’s starting to sink in.

    1. Hahahaha.. that statement cracked me up as well. He must have looked and the car and realised that this car doesn’t look like a race winner at all.

  7. Apparently, Lewis focussing on a future NASCAR or Indycar career.

    Since he’s getting used to Left and all, eh @keithcollantine?

  8. Well, I really want Lewis to succeed at Mercedes. That proves a big point to himself and everybody else.

    But I honestly feel he should stop comparing Mercedes with Mclaren at every stage. I mean I am getting bored of this. This is not the first time some one left their first team. Agree Lewis was nurtured longer and stayed longer with McLaren. That does not mean that he should keep thinking about it even when he has moved on. He is a grown up, He made a bold move and he should look forward. Schumi was with Ferrari for 11 years as driver + couple of years as consultant but he never compared things back to Ferrari when he was at Mercedes.

    I feel that the lingering feelings about the past might be a bigger problem for Lewis than the Under performing Mercedes Car. These things will take him longer to Gel with the team.

    1. So what if he’s letting us hear her his thoughts and emotions? I thinks it great that he’s doing that.

    2. No man, you cannot erase your past like in MIB. Live with in positive way. He’s doing just fine so far.

    3. Lewis has not once complained or admitted he had made a mistake by switching teams. The press, journalists and everyone associated with reporting Formula 1 news are bombarding Lewis with questions regarding his reaction to making such a big move. Yes, Schumacher’s move was big as well, but he was 37 when he left Ferrari compared to Lewis who is making just as big of a move at the age of 28. So, in reality, not only over that stretch of time has the journalists’ and reporters’ invasion become stronger, it is also now considered to be part of the job to report every emotion at the some of the most mentally exhausting times. If you think about it, the 3 drivers who make it to the podium are quickly rushed to the post-race conference room to discuss and process everything they had gone through for the past 2 hours of racing. It is part of the F1 world we live in now, not Lewis ruminating over his decision to make the move to Mercedes and continually comparing them to McLaren. After all, if not past experiences, what are we meant to compare things to? He is making a major career move, and as a Lewis fan, I have the utmost faith that when it comes to working on the car, he will put aside reminiscing the days at McLaren and put all of his focus into a hopefully very successful 3 years at Mercedes.

  9. BTW @keithcollantine I am assuming you meant Getting used to LIFE at Mercedes in the title.

  10. So imagine what it must have been like for Schumi arriving at MB after 3 years not racing.

  11. Pretty weird that Merc has more buttons than McLaren. Maybe McLaren have more like drop down menus with inner options. But yeah the less buttons around Hamilton the better…

    1. I think I meant layered options within buttons…

      1. Yeah, they must have same functionality, just accessed differently. Like on F1 2012, open menu, select tyres, select compound. But 1,000 times more complex.

  12. Aw, he has a little notepad! He’s in the Newey club now.

Comments are closed.