The 2023 season could be the making or the breaking of Mercedes in the new era of Formula 1, as the team got off to a horrific start last season.
The Silver Arrows got their approach to the new set of regulations massively wrong and created a W13 full of problems, mainly a lack of pace and porpoising.
Team principal Toto Wolff has admitted that Mercedes’ rivals simply approached the new regulations better than his team, hence why they had a much more successful year than the Silver Arrows.
The team have spent a lot of time and resources on designing the W14 for 2023, with the aim of returning to the top of the timing screens after a year in the shadows of Red Bull and Ferrari.
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Should Mercedes struggle once again next year it could be the start of a difficult and uncompetitive era for the once dominant team, however if they manage to redeem themselves and learn from last season, they will be hoping to put 2022 down as a one-off failure.
As anticipation builds ahead of the 2023 season, Mercedes have fired up the W14 for the very first time, much to the excitement of fans who expect big things from the team next year.
Ahead of the team’s short break for Christmas, Mercedes have posted a video to their social media platforms of their engineers making some final adjustments to their 2023 challenger, before firing up the engine for the very first time, which came with an impressive roar.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will not be hoping for a repeat of last season’s start, where both drivers were subjected to a severe amount of pain as the W13 presented an unexpected porpoising problem to the team.
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This problem reportedly set the team back by six months in the development plan for the W13, however when they did manage to upgrade their car at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, the team suddenly became competitive once again.
Lewis Hamilton challenged for victories in every race since the W13 was upgraded but it was Russell who managed to stand on the top step in 2022, taking victory in Brazil as part of a stunning and unexpected one-two for the team.
With Hamilton set to extend his contract with the team, the 37-year-old will be hoping that his team can provide a more competitive car in 2023, as he hunts for a record breaking eighth world title before he retires.