Lewis Hamilton: 2019 "more challenging" due to Mercedes personnel swap

For the 2019 Formula 1 season Mercedes decided to switch up their team with Lewis Hamilton's engineer, Riccardo Musconi, swapping to the other side of the garage in one of the five changes the team made. The drivers both understood the change but Hamilton thinks it made his year more challenging. 

"He is a very talented engineer and naturally he wants to progress, no-one wants to stay in the same position and being lead engineer has got to be a great goal for an engineer," Hamilton said to Motorsport.com.

"So then when he goes over to the other side, without doubt, he'd have been saying, 'Valtteri, why weren't you doing these things, Lewis does this, why are you not doing that?'.

"This year it has made it even more challenging because I'm thinking: 'OK how do I twist it? How do I change these small things now that they're doing the same, without losing performance?'

"Now I've got to refine it and take a step up. When it's already close to 100%, taking that 1%, the gap closes. So bringing in a new ace is so hard to find."

Hamilton went on to dominate in 2019 and has proved that he can perform even when there are more challenges trying to slow him down. He will hope to continue to win and win championships for many more years to come.