Since the start of the 2022 season, Mercedes have failed to live up to expectations. The team that dominated the turbo-hybrid era between 2014 and 2021, is barely a shadow of their former selves at the moment. The porpoising issue that plagued their 2022 campaign seems to have returned. Now, George Russell according to the SpeedCafe revealed that the team has taken up a different road to success. This was taken up to beat the world champions, Red Bull.
The Silver Arrows won all drivers’ and constructors’ world championships between 2014 and 2020. However, their dominance seemed to have faded away after the regulation changes of 2022 kicked in. Now they are miles behind Red Bull and are in no condition to challenge for world titles.
Mercedes, along with Lewis Hamilton was the duo to beat just a few years ago. Therefore, no one can blame Mercedes for turning back a page in their own history book to take inspiration from their glory years with Hamilton.
George Russell on Mercedes’ porpoising and inspiration from the past
As Russell opened up on Mercedes taking inspiration from the past to revive their fortune, he also mentioned that he was glad that the Belgian GP was over. This was partly because the porpoising issue seemed to have returned.
The Mercedes driver also spoke about the Silver Arrows’ poor performance throughout 2023. Now, Russell and everyone involved with the Brackley-based outfit is hoping for a much better second half of the season, once the summer break ends.
Every piece, linked to a memory. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/I0dggBk8et
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 13, 2023
Talking about this, the former Williams man said, “The weekend validated that probably the direction we’ve taken with the setup in recent races hasn’t been the right one. We suffered with a huge amount of bouncing. For a number of teams it was maybe not as severe as ourselves.”
The Silver Arrows and their glory days
After Red Bull dominated F1 between 2010 and 2013, a new regulation was brought up in 2014 which kickstarted Mercedes’ dominance. Their complete domination lasted until 2020, after which Red Bull took over the baton once again.
During those seven years, the Brackley-based team picked up eight back-to-back constructors’ championships and seven driver’s titles. Hamilton won six of them, while Nico Rosberg won the 2016 title.
But in the end, they can only take inspiration from how they ended Red Bull’s dominance in 2014 and began theirs. As fortune favors the brave, they can’t help but work relentlessly to get the better of the defending champions.
