This weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is a massively important one for Mercedes, with the Germans having performed woefully at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows were expected to bounce back from their disappointing 2022 campaign in Bahrain; however, the complete opposite occurred.
Mercedes somehow managed to slip further behind the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell having settled for fifth and seventh.
To make matters worse, they slipped to fourth in the pecking order in Bahrain behind Aston Martin, who they supply several key parts to.
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Aston Martin are, of course, a Mercedes customer team and are therefore powered by the Germans, with Fernando Alonso having somehow managed to extract more performance from the power unit than Hamilton and Russell.
Following Aston Martin’s sensational weekend in Bahrain, it’s been reported that senior Mercedes-Benz figures are considering giving the Silverstone-based team the best equipment, rather than the factory Mercedes side should they continue to struggle.
Whilst the rumour has been firmly rejected by several senior F1 figures, Mercedes are clearly in trouble, with the side having admitted themselves in a message to their fans that they aren’t where they want to be.
“The situation we face right now isn’t one that any of us wanted – but it’s the one we have. That’s the reality of it,” the team wrote on the official Mercedes-AMG F1 website.
Hamilton is one of the individuals known to be unhappy with Mercedes’ 2023 car, after the seven-time world champion accused his side of ignoring his feedback on the W14.
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The 38-year-old believes people in Mercedes need to start “owning up” to their mistakes, with the side having a mountain to climb.
“Last year, I told them (about) the issues that are with the car. I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs; I know what a car doesn’t need,” Hamilton told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast.
“And I think it’s really about accountability. It’s about owning up and saying, ‘yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be, and we’ve got to work’.”