After winning eight constructors’ championships consecutively under the previous set of regulations, it was expected that Mercedes would take to the new era of Formula 1 like a duck to water.
Unfortunately for the Silver Arrows, they got their design of the W13 completely wrong, causing the team to suffer from a lack of pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, alongside a major porpoising problem that was causing their drivers pain while driving the car.
The team were forced to sacrifice half of the season to fix the bouncing problem, leaving them well and truly out of the race for both championships as Red Bull stormed to an impressive double.
When discussing Mercedes on Sky F1’s 2022 season review, Karun Chandhok tipped Mercedes to go back to the drawing board next season, while their rivals will have the luxury of building on their 2022 successes.
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“They got the concept wrong, they’ve been very open about it,” said the Sky Sports pundit.
“For me, one of the most intriguing things when we all go to Bahrain pre-season testing next year, is what does the 2023 Mercedes look like?
“Because out of all the cars that have run this year, they are the ones that will look quite different.
“The Red Bull will be an evolution, the Ferrari will be an evolution, but the Mercedes needs to be quite different to get it to work.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has suggested that the disappointment of last season has brought the team back down to earth after their dominance over the past decade.
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The Austrian has explained that his team will use 2022 as a learning curve, as he believes that the W13 will be a one-off failure as they continue to learn more about the effects of the new regulations.
While Ferrari will be adapting to having Fred Vasseur in charge next season following the resignation of Mattia Binotto, Mercedes are the formality of Lewis Hamilton’s contract extension away from boasting an unchanged team in 2023.
With continuity being key in Formula 1 and Red Bull battling with their cost cap penalty next season, Mercedes will believe that they have a serious chance to return to the top in 2023 after a slow start to F1’s new era.