Lewis Hamilton says it was "good" he was right about the W14 after Mercedes "didn't listen" to his feedback.

The Brackley-based team has had a tricky start to 2023 after failing to close the gap to Red Bull at the front and even falling behind customer team Aston Martin in the pecking order.

In response, the seven-time world champion has been outspoken about the state of Mercedes at present, with his sharpest comments coming after the season-opening race in Bahrain

“Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton told the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast.

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“Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.

“And 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’."

In Saudi Arabia, Hamilton backpedalled somewhat saying the last line wasn't the "best choice of words" but later doubled down insisting...

“I’m one of those people that always likes to be right, I’m not always right, but in this scenario I was right,” he said. “So it was good, it was like, ‘I told you’.

“It’s a team collaboration. I’m the driver, not the designer, but I’m the gateway to the car’s performance, so we’re just working on continuously trusting each other in what we try to give back.”

Hamilton's main complaint about the W14 has been a lack of rear grip, stating he "can't connect" to the car, while overall this year's Mercedes is just "a long way down on downforce".

The team themselves has acknowledged this and now a significant overhaul of the car is coming later in the year, potentially around the British Grand Prix in July.

Many have speculated if this will see Mercedes drop their 'zeropod' design concept in favour of something similar to Red Bull, but Hamilton doesn't see that as a silver bullet. 

"People keep talking about getting the new sidepods on the car but it's not as simple as that," he explained.

"You put the Red Bull sidepods on our car and it won't change a thing, it literally won't change a thing, it might even go slower.

"It's about aero characteristics, it's how the car is balanced through the corners.

"There's so many different elements that people of course would not know because they're not aerodynamicists and you can't see it - there's a lot more to it."