After a woeful 2022, Mercedes expected themselves to rise from the ashes and again commit to championship contention in 2023. However, the new season hasn’t given them the best hope for the coming races.
Even though Mercedes has gained a significant gain of seven-tenths of a second in W14 compared to the last year’s car, they are still lagging against their rivals, who have also made impressive improvements.
This showcase forced The Race journalist Mark Hughes to question Mercedes’ attitude against their rivals. Have the Silver Arrows somewhat underestimated their rivals before entering this season?
💬 “Bahrain was painful but we have the people and the structure that can deliver. Even if we are on the backfoot we will never give up fighting.” pic.twitter.com/4Uf5rYrPzv
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 11, 2023
Also read: Ted Kravitz Urges F1 2023 Drivers To Fill The Void Left By Two F1 Stalwarts
F1 journalist feels like Mercedes underestimated their rivals
During Mercedes’ filming day, team boss Toto Wolff felt optimistic about the season. But only one race down, he now thinks his team is already out of the championship fight. Therefore, Hughes opine that Mercedes underestimated their team.
“They underestimated the teams with the existing concepts would be able to find even more than what they found,” said Hughes on the Race F1 Podcast. “So it’s almost like they’ve stumbled to the realization of the limitation of this car.”
Though Hughes is empathetic to the fact that one team couldn’t know what’s going on in other teams until they all run together, they almost lack almost a second against Red Bull per lap in pace.
Toto Wolff initiating personnel shift
Mike Elliott took charge as the technical director of the team once his predecessor was elevated as the CTO in the team and then shifted to the INEOS UK sailing team. But the succession planning hasn’t gone similar to what Wolff had initially planned.
Therefore, Elliott could see himself being dropped from the crucial team position. Reports from Italy claim that Allison, under whom Mercedes won four successive titles, could come back from his position.
According to the reports, Allison has some upgrades in his plans. However, they’ll only be able to implement the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that will happen in May. That would probably be too late for Mercedes to bounce back.
“I know what a car need needs. I know what a car doesn’t need”
Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes did not listen to his concerns over their 2023 car 👇 pic.twitter.com/7RluF3OtDN
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 9, 2023
Right now, they are even pressured by Aston Martin, who can possibly oust them from the top three in the standings. So, Mercedes is probably going through the grimmest phase of their history.
