Lewis Hamilton and George Russell tipped for ‘comeback’ at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

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Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to mount a title comeback in 2023 after a disappointing year for Mercedes. Former F1 star Gerhard Berger has predicted the Silver Arrows to “play a role in the championship again” after a year in the wilderness.

He blamed Mercedes’ “aggressive approach” for their issues last season but warned the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari that the team could now be back to their best. He said: “I do expect Mercedes to make a comeback this season. They took an aggressive approach to 2022 and it didn’t quite work out. Which happens.

“But they now know where the problems lie and they can tackle them to play a role in the championship again.” Hamilton was unable to dice with Max Verstappen for the title as the German marque battled a range of issues.

The team started off with porpoising issues early on in the campaign which left the team languishing in the midfield.

Engineers appeared to solve the bouncing issues but then noticed a lack of performance compared to their rivals. The team seemed to solve most of their problems by the end of the season with Hamilton and Russell looking more competitive after new upgrades were introduced in the USA.

Hamilton went on to battle Verstappen for the top-step in Austin and Mexico with Russell securing the team’s only win of the year in Brazil. Mercedes are also confident of a quick return to the top with team boss Toto Wolff stressing they will be back in “more potent form”.

Russell has also claimed that the manufacturer could challenge as long as they matched their targets over the winter. He explained: “I think when you look at the development we have brought this year, and the rate at which we’ve closed the gap, there’s nothing telling us we can’t achieve this.

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“We’ve been pretty clear now for about two months which targets we have to hit in terms of development. And I am pretty confident if we do achieve that, we will have a car that we can compete with Red Bull.” Helmut Marko has also admitted Red Bull see Mercedes as more of a threat than Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc won two of the first three races last year but dropped off as the season progressed. Marko explained: “Ferrari is strong [for 2023], but Mercedes will be stronger in the overall package. Especially with a driver like Lewis Hamilton. He is still a top driver.”

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