Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has had to contend with not being among the frontrunners to lift the world championship for the first time in over a decade.
The Silver Arrows got its design completely wrong last season, which saw Hamilton fail to win a single race following the controversial ending to the 2021 championship that saw Max Verstappen claim his maiden title.
This season has been a slight improvement since then, but Mercedes is still far behind Red Bull, who have been completely dominant and have won nine out of nine races so far.
All of this, as well as a contract extension that is yet to be agreed on by Hamilton, has put him in a bad place at the team.
His split with long-term personal assistant and close friend Angela Cullen has often seen Hamilton cut an isolated figure in recent times, with the Stevenage-born driver claiming that he hasn’t enjoyed himself for over a year now at Mercedes.
“I’ve not been happy in the car for the past year and a bit,” Hamilton said.
“The step we took has moved it more in the direction I’ve been asking for. Slowly we’re rebuilding confidence in the platform I have.
“It’s still not 100%. I’m still not able to extract full potential from myself but we’re getting there.
“You’re just limited,” he said, elaborating on why he is struggling to drive the W14.
“The stability of the car and the confidence of where you can put the car. You saw last year I crashed here and so did George.
“The car has been very unpredictable for a long time but it’s becoming more predictable which is a positive.”