What next for Mercedes in its quest to get back to the top of F1?

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Mar 30, 2023, 7:16 AM

Lewis Hamilton believed very early on that the 2023 Formula 1 season would be a tricky one for Mercedes, and so far he's been proven correct. With the Brackley squad well off the pace of Red Bull, it's set to change course dramatically in a bid to get back to the front

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Its cars may be a different colour in 2023, back to the inspiring black livery in which Lewis Hamilton powered to Formula 1 world title glory in 2020 and so nearly again in 2021, but there’s a clear sense of deja vu for Mercedes. This settled in, hard, at the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month. But the team has already decided to twist: the W14’s car ‘concept’, begun in the infamous W13, will be abandoned.

That is despite the fact that Mercedes has finally been able to move on from the severe porpoising and ride bouncing it suffered across 2022. And the fact that last time out in the Saudi Arabian GP, it beat a Ferrari on merit in qualifying and defeated both red cars in the race, albeit with a little bit of safety car assistance.

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.