Mercedes suffered a lot last season due to porpoising issues. The W13 car was bouncing too much to help the drivers in the races. Instead, the drivers suffered back and neck injuries along with a lot of bruises. After losing the previous season to Red Bull after a neck-and-neck fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. They were looking forward to retaining the title in 2022. But the horrible condition of the car did not help them in fulfilling their goal for the last season. After the pre-season tests the previous year, the awful bouncing was pretty noticeable.
However, the cause or solution was hard to figure out for the team before the season began. Hence, the Mercedes team is excited to bounce back to title contention once again with the necessary changes made to the car. Albeit, after this year’s pre-season tests, there is good news, and there is bad news for the Silver Arrows. The good news is that the bouncing problem has reduced a lot, but it is still there a little bit. On the other hand, the bad news is that the W14 car is facing trouble with the balance.
Mercedes Claims Upgrades Won’t Have Any Resemblance With Other Team
Now, the team is looking to make some upgrades to the car before the season kicks off at the Bahrain Grand Prix. But there have been a lot of speculations that the Silver Arrows may copy the looks of Red Bull or even Ferrari. However, Mercedes Boss has denied such rumors. Mercedes claimed that there wouldn’t be side pods in the car for the 2023 season.
However, after the three days of pre-season tests, Toto Wolff mentioned that with necessity, the car might have more changes made regarding the side pods during the season. Rumors are spreading that Mercedes may take the concept of alternative side pods from their two main rivals – Red Bull and Ferrari. But the technical director of the team, Mike Elliot, assured that there would be unique modifications made to the car. Especially no resemblance with any other team’s car will be present.
Mike Elliot Is Optimistic About Comeback To Title Contention
In an interview with Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports, Elliot said, “new bodywork and different look are coming soon.” Elliot mentioned that the new look of the W14 will display an evolution of the Mercedes cars. When Kravitz asked if the new look would resemble RB19, the technical director explained that they have no such plans currently. As things stand at present, Mercedes has a long way to catch up with the champion Red Bull and their other rival, Ferrari.
Even the seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton, explained their current situation. He mentioned, “we are still not where we wanted to be. But the key is to stay positive. The lack of bouncing makes things a whole lot easy. But the car is not running problem-free. So we have to keep working on it.” But Mike Elliot sounds optimistic as he mentioned, “with the ongoing development on the W14 car, we can get back to the title contention.”