Lewis Hamilton’s setup trials are probably going to have “long-term” effects on the team’s development of the W15 vehicle, and he is not “willing to accept the reality” of Mercedes’ position in Formula One in 2024.

In an effort to help the seven-time world champion jumpstart his season, former F1 technical director Gary Anderson has advised Hamilton to “look and learn” from teammate George Russell.

Could the adjustments Lewis Hamilton made to the W15 setup harm Mercedes in the long run?

Mercedes, which had been limited to just one race win since the introduction of F1’s ground effect rules in 2022, went into the 2024 campaign hoping to get back into regular winning contention.

But Hamilton has had the worst start to a season of all time, collecting just 19 points in the first five events and behind Russell in every race the Mercedes duo have competed in thus far.

Hamilton has tried a variety of settings in an attempt to get more performance from the W15, continuing a trend from the previous two seasons.

This tactic failed at the most recent Chinese Grand Prix, as Hamilton could only achieve 18th in qualifying, barely hours after finishing second to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the sprint race.

Hamilton later acknowledged that he could only finish tenth the next day after making “massive changes” to his car in between the sessions.

Hamilton has been charged by Anderson, the former technical director of Jordan who has been a vocal opponent of Mercedes in recent times, with not wanting “to accept the reality” of the team’s circumstances.

He has also issued a warning, stating that Mercedes’ comprehension of the W15 may be limited as a result of the seven-time world champion’s tinkering, which might have long-term effects on the team’s progress.

“There might be something in Hamilton chasing the few times that Mercedes have found their sweet spot in the last few years,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.

“It has been there on occasion – two poles and one win since the end of 2021 – but has been fleeting.

“The Mercedes is generally inconsistent. This is all likely leading him astray and Hamilton does not seem willing to accept the reality.

“There is a knock-on effect that hampers the car’s development long-term, too. If you make odd choices on set-up then a team fails to find a baseline for performance and setup.

“It limits learning about the car. If that is absent then the development path, knowing what to work on in the wind tunnel and improving aerodynamic performance, will be confused too.

“It leaves a team with no positive direction.

“This continues to be a recurring headache for Hamilton but he has at least an end date as he departs for Ferrari.

“In the meantime if he does not want to end the year as the second-best Mercedes driver he should look and learn from Russell and simply take the best out of what he has to work with.”

Following his warning to Hamilton that “the excuses must stop at some point” and his assertion that his setup experiments are unlikely to be as dramatic as he claims, Anderson made his most recent remarks.

“It appears that Hamilton is still looking for that one bullet that will propel him to the front,” he stated. Well, I have never witnessed it in my years of racing motorsports.

Since the beginning of 2022, Mercedes has experienced a fundamental issue with their vehicle that cannot be resolved by setup adjustments. The goal should always be to maximize what you already have since, if you succeed in doing so, you’ll have a starting point.

“Eventually, the justifications have to end. It is necessary to evaluate the decision-making process on Hamilton’s end of the garage.

“These outrageous setups that Hamilton describes are probably not as crazy as he would have us believe.”