In what is a pleasant and welcomed change, a Red Bull engineer has praised the Austrians’ fierce rivals for their stunning livery for 2023, with Mercedes having returned to black for the imminent season.
The Brackley-based outfit unveiled their 2023 challenger – the W14 – on Wednesday, with their official shakedown test having followed at Silverstone.
Mercedes’ return to black after running a silver-based design in 2022 is for a number of reasons, with weight saving being one of them.
A noticeable theme of the 2023 launch season is that every team doesn’t have a complete design, with every outfit having at least some bare carbon in a bid to save weight.
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By running their black livery, Mercedes can leave the vast majority of their car without paint on it, something that will likely see them enter the new season with a light competitor.
“We were overweight last year,” Wolff said at their launch on Wednesday, as reported by Autosport.
“This year we have tried to figure out where we can squeeze out every single gramme. So now, history repeats itself.
“You will see that the car has some raw carbon bits, along with some that are painted matte black.
“Of course, when we changed the livery in 2020 the main driving factor was to support the diversity and equality causes which are always close to our heart. The colour black became part of our DNA at that point, so we are pleased to return to it.”
Mercedes originally switched to a black livery in 2020 to demonstrate their support in the fight against discrimination and racism, with 2020 having been the year, of course, when George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by a police officer.
The side maintained a predominantly black design in 2021, before returning to silver last season.
Fans quickly shared their impressions of the black design for the forthcoming season on social media, with many having ranked it as the best on the grid for 2023.
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Red Bull engineer Laura Davies also shared her appreciation of the Silver Arrows design by writing on social media, “I know I shouldn’t, but I like it…
“Opposition appreciation.”
Seeing rivals like Red Bull and Mercedes react to each other’s design is something which demonstrates great respect between the two teams, who will likely do battle once again come Bahrain if Mercedes’ 2023 car is as fast as many are making it out to be.