Mercedes have had a miserable 2023 season so far, as they have failed to win a race. While the Silver Arrows did not have a much better campaign last year either, they did win a race in Brazil. F1 expert Will Buxton has interestingly pointed out how Mercedes’ victory at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace circuit last season is a reason why newly crowned three-time champion Max Verstappen has dominated the 2023 campaign.
Mercedes worked incredibly hard last season to get their first win, and when they got it, they hoped they could carry the same learnings forward. One of those learnings was the idea of the zero side pod concept. The Silver Arrows decided to continue with the same into the 2023 season as they believed that this concept had potential.
However, instead of helping Mercedes improve, the team has seemingly taken a step backward by sticking to the same concept this season. As a result of the Silver Arrows focusing most of their 2023 season on attempting to correct their previous mistakes, Buxton believes that this gave Verstappen and Red Bull the opportunity to pull away.
Will Buxton believes Max Verstappen won his title six months ago
While speaking on the Qatar Grand Prix preview episode of BBC’s F1 Chequered Flag podcast, Will Buxton explained how Max Verstappen won his title six months ago rather than during the sprint race. The British presenter believes that since Mercedes chose to stick with their zero side pod concept, they were never going to be in contention to challenge the Milton Keynes outfit.
“It (the F1 world championship) was decided six months ago. But more than that, I think it was decided at the Brazilian Grand Prix last year when Mercedes had a false perception. They took the win with George Russell and thought, oh, there is potential in this car, and stuck with a design philosophy that they knew was inherently wrong,” explained Buxton.
The 42-year-old then added that had Russell not won the Brazilian Grand Prix last year, then Mercedes under no circumstances would have continued with their zero-side pod concept. Even though the Silver Arrows have now abandoned the same concept, it is going to be far from easy for them to close the gap to Red Bull anytime soon.
Red Bull will also enter 2024 as favorites
Since there are barely any significant rule changes from the 2023 season to the 2024 campaign, Red Bull will once again enter next year as favorites. Even if some teams do end up making a significant amount of progress, they may still not be able to catch up to the Milton Keynes outfit.
However, if any team is to challenge Red Bull next season, then McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes it will be Mercedes. The Italian explained in a recent interview with motorsport-total.com how the Silver Arrows have figured out their concerns this season and know where to improve to close the gap with Red Bull.
