Seven things that changed between Hamilton’s last two F1 wins

Hamilton claimed an emotional victory at last weekend’s British Grand Prix as it ended 945 days without a win in Formula 1.

It was the 104th victory of his career, with Hamilton’s 103rd win coming 56 grands prix before at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP – making it the ninth-biggest gap between victories in F1 history.

So the seven-time world champion shed tears at the chequered flag, after also claiming a record-extending ninth British GP win in front of his vibrant home crowd.

There was a lot of relief associated with the victory and the 39-year-old even admitted to having “days where I didn’t feel like I was good enough”, as Hamilton and his Mercedes team have largely struggled since the regulations changed in 2022.

So, what is different now from when Hamilton won the penultimate round of the 2021 season in Jeddah? Here are some examples.

Changes in F1 since Hamilton’s last victory

Ground-effect cars

Much of Hamilton’s success came during the turbo-hybrid era, which began in 2014 – a year after he made a masterful switch to Mercedes. That’s because the German manufacturer adapted to the change the best and Hamilton pipped team-mate Nico Rosberg to a second world championship in 2014.

That started a dominant run for the Briton, who claimed five of the next six titles winning 62 grands prix during that time while losing the 2016 crown to Rosberg on the final day.

Hamilton was set for a record-breaking eighth championship in 2021, as he was leading the Abu Dhabi season finale until a controversial call by race director Michael Masi handed the advantage to title rival Max Verstappen, who went to win.

And that has remained Hamilton’s final championship battle since, as the following season saw the reintroduction of ground-effect cars which had not been seen in F1 for 40 years.

Yet this was a regulation change that Mercedes failed to overcome, as the team’s first ground effect car – the W13 – was very difficult to handle and often struggled with porpoising. This was a term not many knew at the time of Hamilton’s Jeddah win either.

This resulted in just one win for Mercedes that season – George Russell at the Brazilian GP – as the team also adopted the no-sidepod design, which was the opposite of eventual world champions Red Bull.

It only got worse for Mercedes the following season, as it went winless for the first time in 12 years while Red Bull…