In the 2022 preseason, Mercedes surprised by putting a car without sidepods on the track. The star team adopted this radical solution which, according to their estimates, would give them a second per lap advantage over their rivals, but it backfired.
In the first races of last season, the Mercedes was a very unstable car that suffered extreme ‘porpoising’, causing lewis hamilton He had back problems for a good part of the year. In fact, the British driver could not get past Q1 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022 for that reason, but Mercedes decided to keep the bet.
As the races went on, the Mercedes became a much more competitive car, achieving 17 podiums and a victory in the Brazilian Grand Prixwhich made us think that they had definitively solved their problems, but the start of the 2023 season has meant another step backwards for the German team.
During the pre-season tests, Toto WolffMercedes team principal, stated that he had serious doubts about the concept of the new W14and now, after the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying, His suspicions have been confirmed. “I don’t think this package is going to be competitive,” Wolff said after seeing how George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could not get past sixth and seventh position, respectively.
These bad feelings have caused Wolff to consider making a radical change in the design of his car: “It’s only the first qualifying out of 23, so I don’t want to rule anything out for this campaign, being totally realistic that the car needs to change a lot.” .
One of the aspects that most puzzles Mercedes is that Aston Martin, sharing a good part of the technology with the star team, has managed to make a car faster than them. “They have improved two seconds in half a year, and their car is half ours in terms of engine, gearbox and rear suspension. They use the same wind tunnel, so there are many parallels. We just have to admit that they have made a extraordinary job,” Wolff said.
