George Russell brought the broadest smiles in the Mercedes garage last year when he won the Brazilian Grand Prix. After dominating the entire grid for eight years, the Silver Arrows saw a massive performance slump.
In 2022, Mercedes were not even near to competing for the championship. They missed nailing the new aero-regulations, while Ferrari and Red Bull settled well under them and had a superior car than the Brackley-based team.
But their saving grace came at the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, where they finally got their win in the season. Something on which they were focusing really hard after making several developments in the second half of the season.
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George Russell could have missed on his sole win
However, a small car leakage could have missed Mercedes’s only win that season. And the most interesting part is that Russell had no idea about it.
Apparently, the Briton race driver had a water leak in his car that could have threatened his race win, as he could have been forced to retire through the mid-way of his race.
But the team took the call to continue the race and leave the rest to their fate. In the meantime, they kept Russell aloof, obviously to keep him away from any pressure and risk losing his composure.
The decision eventually paid off, with Russell crossing the line before any other driver. The remarkable thing over here is that Mercedes was without Toto Wolff in the garage. So, the team took such a big call without him leading the pack.
Getting back in 2023
Mercedes truly despised being the third-best team on the grid last year. Why not? When winning became a habit for the Silver Arrows. That’s why they are planning to have a comeback next season.
However, there is a catch. Team boss Wolff has declared that Mercedes have made improvements that pushed them back in 2022. But they are yet to run it in real time. So he believes most of the first few races would go into catching Red Bull and Ferrari.
But the season is long. Mercedes, with their consistency, can bounce back in the championship race even if they see a considerable gap against their rivals after the first two months of the season.
Moreover, the recent interviews by Wolff only signal that he doesn’t want to create unrealistic hype around his team’s chances in 2023. As he said recently, he wants his team to be humble this year.
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