Season results: Mercedes-AMG Petronas – all Formula 1 news 2023

Mercedes finished the season in second place in the Constructors’ Championship with the fewest points in the past five years…

When a foreign element gets into a properly functioning clock mechanism, the mechanism malfunctions. Such an element for Mercedes was the 2022 regulations, which completely changed the behavior of the previously champion car. A few bad decisions – and that’s it, the car does not move, which brings the drivers not pleasure, but torment.

It was not possible to solve this problem for the second year in a row, despite the high technical potential, a good power plant and excellent racers. And second place in the constructors’ championship should not be deceiving. There was no competition. With 860 points and 21 wins for Red Bull, Mercedes only has 409 points and no wins. The result is disastrous.

When creating the W14, the engineers mainly tried to solve the problems with the construction, as it was simply not possible to move forward last year. We had to increase the suspension height, the aerodynamics stopped working, the downforce dropped, the tires wore out, etc.

The swaying decreased, but other problems arose. Driving the car was still difficult, it had a very limited number of settings, which depended on the configuration of the track, the air temperature, the asphalt and the moon phase. At the same time, Red Bull’s car drove as if it were on rails. It was simply impossible to fight the leaders.

Hamilton said at the end of the season that the car was no better than last year, and was counting down the days until the final race, after which he would not have to drive it again.

Mike Elliott was involved in the car’s development, but when it became clear in the spring that the car was again unsuccessful, Mercedes began reorganizing its technical headquarters. James Ellison was sent back to the position of technical director and Elliott was moved to another position and at the end of the season he was sacked entirely. I couldn’t handle it.

James Ellison: “If a team performs at a very high level for a number of years, and then for some reason the results decline, it is very disorienting. If you suddenly feel that the foundations that were once laid have been shaken and the stopwatch shows the real picture, it is very unpleasant.

Self-confidence is decreasing, the entire company is under great pressure due to a bad car and results. Next, an attempt should be made to unite all departments – the department of aerodynamics, dynamic characteristics, design, so that all specialists, joining forces, begin to create a more efficient chassis. So that each of them, responsible for his or her work area, is aware of everything that is happening and contributes according to his or her own insight.

If the approach is taken incorrectly, all of these groups can stop communicating with each other, as each of them is completely focused on solving their own problems.

Perhaps in our case the most destructive processes began when the company entered a period of difficulties – then we lost the championship crown for the first time, and this led to a more serious division within the team than could have been possible.”

Similar. The team, which until recently was the strongest, began to fall apart.

W14 did not allow to fight with Red Bull, but this does not mean that the team and drivers did not fight. They did their best every weekend and as a result they finished in second place at the end of the season. And the competitors in this group were strong: Alonso from Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren drivers. They were all inferior to Verstappen in terms of speed, but the difference between them was minimal, which added intrigue to the season.

Just like Red Bull, Mercedes earned points in all races without exception. The most successful stage was in Barcelona, ​​where both riders reached the podium, but there were also failures, such as in the rain in Zandvoort.

The car lacked stability and downforce; it still suffered from sway on high-speed sections. Modern cars require minimum ground clearance and with a slightly higher suspension height it was not possible to achieve optimal balance.

As a result, the settings were always compromises and the car never drove at full capacity. It did not allow us to attack and fully utilize the potential of the power plant, which was also no longer the most powerful. The car did not have that power reserve, which made it possible to ignore the imperfections of the chassis in previous years.

Like the rest, the team found itself in a vicious circle, from which only Adrian Newey could find a way out. Magic.

As the season progressed, Hamilton and Russell performed on par, but eventually Lewis was ahead and George began to hint at a loss of motivation. Last year he joined a team that won title after title, hoping to compete for the championship, but the championship turned out to be just a stone’s throw away.

Lewis doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, but George doesn’t have to prove anything, but this created problems. And although the score in qualifying was equal – 11:11, in the individual competition Lewis came third, only behind the Red Bull Racing drivers, and Russell eighth. And this is just a sign of class.

I’m curious to see how the next season will go for Mercedes. The team turned its attention early on to preparations for next season, but Red Bull Racing is so far ahead that the Mercedes engineers are faced with an impossible task.

As in the case of Ferrari, there is almost no hope of catching up, but they will try. I would like to conduct a leadership battle with the participation of three teams. I’m tired of the domination!