Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has hinted at a major concept overhaul if the Silver Arrows can’t close the gap on Ferrari and Red Bull this season. However, the Austrian stressed they must improve the W13 with developments in order to understand its flaws before making changes next yea
Mercedes sparked a surprise at the start of the 2022 season by revealing their disappearing sidepod concept, leading many to believe a ninth consecutive constructors’ championship was on the way. However, aggressive porpoising has stifled Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Both Mercedes drivers have been off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull as Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen battle at the drivers’ standings summit. And although an upgrade package reduced their bouncing in Barcelona, Mercedes’ stiff set-up caused different problems on Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
Wolff claimed the W13s were ‘undrivable’ after first practice before Russell finished in P5 and Hamilton P8 in the race. And ahead of next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Wolff has suggested that if Mercedes can’t compete this season, changes could be on the way in 2023.
He said: “At a certain stage, if we still don’t manage to close that gap, we need to continue to just grind away. And then, if decisions for next year need to be taken that can’t be changed on the current car, whether that is architecture or aerodynamically, these decisions need to happen. But we are not at that point. At least we’re going to get some more wind tunnel time from June onwards.
“If you want to change concept, you need to understand what is going to make the new concept faster than the current one. If we knew that, we would have done it, so at the moment, it is still very much believing in our structure and our organisation and trying to bring developments and understanding in order to increase the pace of the car.”
Mercedes are in an unfamiliar situation after years of becoming accustomed to dominating at the front of the grid. Russell and Hamilton struggle to compete with Ferrari and Red Bull consistently but are evidently faster than McLaren’s pair. And Wolff has admitted the Silver Arrows are learning in every race while in ‘no man’s land’.
We are learning at the moment at every track,” Wolff added. “It is literally every kilometre that we are doing is an important lesson on how we can improve the car, to be honest. But we just need to get out of this no man’s land in which we are in at the moment.
