Mercedes’ 2022 season is one that they would certainly like to forget, as their design choice under the new regulations left them with a porpoising and uncompetitive W13.
Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q1 in Saudi Arabia before being embarrassingly lapped by Max Verstappen at Imola as Mercedes struggled to even compete with the midfield teams.
After the summer break the Silver Arrows finally managed to solve their porpoising problems for good and focus on upgrading the performance of the W13, bringing major upgrades to the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
These upgrades helped both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell significantly, with the latter eventually going on to claim the first victory of his career in Brazil as part of a one-two from the Silver Arrows.
READ: ‘Why can’t McLaren be there?’: Lewis Hamilton makes 2023 prediction
Mercedes eventually finished the season 244 points behind champions Red Bull, but Russell sees no reason why the team can’t battle the energy drink giants for the title in 2023 if they keep up their development trajectory.
“I think when you look at the development we have brought this year, and the rate at which we’ve closed the gap, there’s nothing telling us we can’t achieve this,” Russell said to Crash.net.
“We’ve been pretty clear now for about two months which targets we have to hit in terms of development. And I am pretty confident if we do achieve that, we will have a car that we can compete with Red Bull.
“The fact now we are in a position to fight for race victories shows a lot. So I’ve got every bit of confidence in this team.”
READ: Aston Martin want to reduce their ties to Mercedes
In terms of his own personal performances, Russell was extremely impressive in his debut season with the team, picking up the team’s only win amongst a plethora of top five finishes.
The 24-year-old outscored his seven-time world champion teammate over the course of the season and has shown that he is more than capable of challenging any driver on the grid, should he be given the opportunity to do so.
It has been suggested that should Mercedes produce a title winning car in 2023, Hamilton’s biggest rival for a record breaking eighth world title could actually be his teammate, who will be eager to keep winning after tasting victory for the first time last year.