Eddie Jordan believes that Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is already looking dejected after a difficult start to the 2024 season.
The seven-time world champion has been outscored by teammate George Russell in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast, Jordan explained what’s going wrong for the Silver Arrows already.
Jordan thinks Hamilton is already dejected
The 2023 season was one of the toughest in recent memory for Mercedes despite finishing runners-up to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship.
They failed to win a single race and towards the end of the year, it was clear Ferrari had closed the gap to them.
Lewis Hamilton and Russell would have hoped the work Mercedes did over the winter would have helped them catch up to Red Bull.
However, they appear to have stood still and they’re now in a battle with McLaren and Aston Martin to be the third-best team on the grid.
The news that Hamilton will be leaving Mercedes can’t have helped things, but Jordan believes he already looks dejected about his chances this year.
He may be looking over at Ferrari’s 2024 car with envy after watching debutant Oliver Bearman finish ahead of him in Jeddah.
Jordan’s co-host commented while covering the race at the weekend that the 39-year-old might have already ‘mentally’ checked out.
Hamilton set for frustrating 2024 with Mercedes
Speaking about the struggles of Red Bull’s rivals, Jordan said: “Well, look at it logically. At the moment, we were all thinking four weeks ago, maybe McLaren have something up their sleeve, they’ve got a really good chance, they could come up there.
“But, they’re not in the same league as Red Bull. And Mercedes are floundering in my opinion.
“The one team I have to give some credit to [is] Fred [Vasseur] at Ferrari and I’m sure he can’t wait to get his hands on Lewis [Hamilton].
“Lewis, I think is a bit dejected already with the state of Mercedes and Mercedes and Toto [Wolff], it’s the same as last year, it’s started poorly!
“And it’s very hard to catch up when you’ve got somebody who has 51 points on the board already with Max [Verstappen], I mean it’s just ridiculous how is Mercedes going to compete?”
Jordan is sympathetic to the ‘dejected’ Hamilton and seems to understand that the ‘fundamental’ problems Mercedes are facing are the source of his frustration.
Even though he’s not in the quickest car, he still produced a ‘defensive masterclass’ against one rival last weekend.
He’s going to have to use all of his experience to finish on the podium at this rate, let alone end his wait for a victory.
The post ‘Started poorly’: Eddie Jordan thinks 39-year-old F1 driver already looks ‘a bit dejected’ this season appeared first on F1 Oversteer.