Pressure in the Mercedes F1 camp has built up high. Reports suggest that team principal Toto Wolff has fired an ultimatum at the current technical director Mike Elliot.
Mercedes’ downfall began in the 2022 season with the W13. It has continued in the 2023 season as well with the opening race of the 2023 campaign, Bahrain GP, bringing disappointment for the team.
Both the Mercedes found themselves parked at P5 and P7 when the race finished. This brought a brutal assessment of the W14 from Wolff.
Following this, Mercedes also brought back its star designer James Allison to the team triggering rumours about a change in leadership at the top level in the Brackley-based team.
As it happens, a report from Formu1a.uno suggests that Mercedes’ current technical director Mike Elliott is under increased pressure to improve the 2023 challenger.
Mercedes has miniaturized the floor of the W14, but the absence of a body that directs turbulence away from the front wheels of the car penalizes the silver arrows
[@es_Motorsport] pic.twitter.com/j13DOmK0t1
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) March 8, 2023
The Italian media house revealed that the team had a long meeting upon returning to Brackley which went on until late at night.
There are suspicions that the environment inside the Mercedes camp is stressful and is shaping into a final warning for Elliott.
Toto Wolff extremely unhappy with Mercedes
It is clear after the first race of the 2023 season that the German manufacturers are several steps behind the leaders.
They were even outpaced by Aston Martin, who has made a significant jump to the top of the grid despite finishing at the back in the last season.
Towards the end of the 2022 season, the Silver Arrows had a little hope with the improvements and were positive about progress in the 2023 season. But all of it has now turned into massive disappointment and frustration.
The position of Mercedes after the Bahrain GP clearly showed that the Mercedes concept is a failure.
But technical director, Elliott defended his work saying that the team has done a lot of work over the past year to examine other solutions. But Mercedes has always come back to the current concept because it is the one that favours them the most.
He further added that whether or not it is the right step, they will find out soon.
On the other hand, Wolff has nothing but harsh statements about the car. After Aston Martin’s brutal overtaking of the Mercedes in Bahrain, Wolff said, “it was one of the worst days since we’ve been racing in F1.”
Wolff concedes problems with aerodynamics; Elliott under pressure
The Brackley-based team introduced the zero-side pod concept in the 2022 season. Mercedes’ power unit too faced some problems with performance last year.
Over the winter break, the team was able to find a solution to problems of last year but it did not bring any significant change.
Following this, Aston Martin’s wonderful performance left Wolff pointing fingers towards problems with aerodynamics.
He said that AMR23 has the same engine, same gearbox and suspension and yet they are ahead of the Silver Arrows. Wolff further added that it is obvious that there are problems with aerodynamic DNA and the wind tunnel that are not allowing the Mercedes to succeed.
Also Read: Mercedes Boss Toto Wolff Concedes Defeat After Bahrain GP
