Undoubtedly, Mercedes-AMG-Petronas Formula One team has been going through a hell of a phase for some time now. After raining fire on the entire motorsport for almost eight years, the team is fighting against themselves. Moreover, this fight is not seeing a light of cease-fire anytime soon. Once again, after facing huge embarrassment this year at the first race of the season, Bahrain, the team has been advised by almost everybody to work on their car.
It looks like boss Toto Wolff has taken the scrutiny personally and has now taken the leash into his hand. This is because, according to recent reports, the Mercedes drivers are provided with a strict ultimatum to correct what has been wrong.
Engineer Mike Elliot & His Team Under Huge Pressure
After losing one after the other Grand Prix races to either Red Bull or Ferrari last year, Mercedes hoped to bring a perfect challenger for the next year. However, the aspirations did not go as expected. And once again, same as last year, the team is stuck with an F1 car, unable to achieve even podiums, let alone the title. As a result, the Silver Arrows’ core engineers’ team is under a huge ultimatum by the boss to work rigorously and provide a car that can at least fight for the wins.
Reports suggest that team principal Toto Wolff has fired an ultimatum at the technical director Mike Elliot. As reported by Formu1a.uno, Mercedes conducted a long meeting upon returning to Brackley, which went on until late at night. In the same, the engineers are fired with a strict warning to work on their 2023 challenger and provide results. Along with this, they also brought back their star designer James Allison to the team. However, this has triggered speculations that a change in leadership at the top level could be seen in the future.
Mercedes Engineer Describes The Inside Situation
While talking about the Mercedes’ miseries, technical director Elliot confirmed the stress building inside the paddock. Explaining the situation, the engineer revealed that they did a lot of work over the past year to look at other types of solutions. But they keep coming back to this one concept. “This is because it is the one that favors us the most,” claims Mike Elliot.
Last year, Mercedes was severely affected by porpoising and bouncing issues. However, this year, they are more than sure that those problems are nowhere near their new W14 car. But, Wolff has revealed that the aerodynamic concept is inherently wrong this year. Despite some improvement in the rear stability and traction, the W14 is still lacking aerodynamic load in medium-high and high-speed corners. So, will Mercedes be able to work on their issues to provide a good-performing formula one car to their drivers? Only time will tell.
