With the 2022 season very much in the past, Mercedes are cracking on with their preparations for the upcoming 2023 season and their newest challenger, the W14.
Last year wasn’t one for the Silver Arrows to remember particularly fondly, with the Germans having slumped to third in the Constructors’ Championship, following eight consecutive years of winning the Championship.
Their fall to third, behind both Red Bull and Ferrari, came as a result of the Brackley-based outfit having countless issues with the ‘diva’ W13, with the biggest problem of the lot being the side’s porpoising dilemma.
It became apparent early in the 2022 campaign that the W13 had a serious porpoising issue, something which saw the team fall far behind their rivals in the development race of the new cars.
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Mercedes did eventually resolve their issues and managed to make some progress in regard to the W13’s overall performance, something which allowed George Russell to claim the team’s only pole position at Hungary and their only win in Brazil.
Lewis Hamilton failed to achieve either and ended the season sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, his lowest ever position.
2022 also marked the first season in the 38-year-old’s career where he failed to claim either a pole position or a victory, cementing the year as the worst of his 16-year career at the pinnacle of motorsport.
The team have remained upbeat, though, despite their 2022 woes, with the W14 set to be the car that’ll see the Germans return to the front.
Mercedes have been working flat out over the winter break to ensure that they enter the new season on the front foot, with the Silver Arrows wanting to get their Constructors’ Championship trophy back from their Austrian rivals.
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Hamilton, too, will be eager to get back in the title fight to attempt another bid at an unprecedented eighth World Championship, whilst Russell will be hungry and determined to claim his first.
A lot depends on Mercedes starting the new year on the right foot, with the side’s reputation on the line.
With the importance of 2023 being evident, Hamilton, Russell and team principal Toto Wolff visited their engine factory in Brixworth to meet all of the team’s employees at the site.