When Mercedes dominated the turbo-hybrid era, there was a notion that they were a perfect outfit in terms of operations, reliability, and everything else. However, Esteban Ocon once shed light on the hard work and internal chaos that used to ensue within the Brackley stable to receive the ‘best team in the world’ tag.
Last year, Ocon spoke about Mercedes on the High-Performance podcast. He stated, “Everyone thought, ‘you know, it’s easy for Mercedes, everything is perfect procedures, everything works super fine. They’re going to win every race.’ But trust me, on the inside, it’s fire.”
The former Mercedes reserve driver highlighted that at crucial moments, there was a lack of surety within the team to make decisions. However, he added, “But it’s how they overcome these moments and learn from these that made them as strong as they were”.
Esteban Ocon was not on the grid in 2019, he was a Mercedes reserve driver(thanks to the Strolls) pic.twitter.com/sHGM8gfL2P
— The Casual(F1) Fan (@ThecasualfanF1) April 16, 2024
Ocon closely observed Mercedes’ internal workings when they won the championship every season. Particularly in 2019, when the Frenchman was without a seat and regularly helped the Silver Arrows as their reserve. While Ferrari and Red Bull occasionally challenged their supremacy, Mercedes were quite consistent atop the pecking order.
That was until the 2021 season when Red Bull finally rose to the occasion to put a halt to the German team’s reign of dominance. Since then, Mercedes have fallen back and have not won a single championship in the new ground effect era.
Are Mercedes finally recovering from their slump in 2024?
The Brackley outfit were in a similar place filled with struggles at the start of the 2024 season. Despite an overhaul to their car concept, they were not even close to fighting for consistent podiums. However, with a good run of upgrades, Mercedes have found a second wind and this time it seems to be long-lasting.
Their three wins in the last four races before the summer break are evidence of the same. While Red Bull’s struggles with their car are also helping them, the development trajectory finally being right for Mercedes is a huge plus point.
Heading into the second half of the season, Mercedes will want to gather more momentum with wins and podiums to set themselves up for next season. They would ideally want to fight for the championship like in their dominant days after three years of struggle in the midfield.
