Toto Wolff comment on new Mercedes car may worry Hamilton and Russell

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

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Toto Wolff’s hope that Mercedes will ‘eventually’ compete for race wins in 2023 may prove slightly concerning for fresh and rejuvenated drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Wolff is cautiously optimistic his team has developed a competitive title challenger for his two British drivers after a miserable 2022 season. 

Mercedes were well off the pace last year as their W13 car failed to adapt to F1’s drastic new design regulations. Russell sealed the only victory of the season for the Silver Arrows at Interlagos, while a frustrated Hamilton endured the first winless campaign in his F1 career.  

But Mercedes have been working tirelessly on their modified all-black W14 model that was unveiled on Wednesday. And the Brackley-based team have been widely tipped to ensure that last year’s dip in performance was merely an aberration as they target a return to the front of the grid.

There is optimism within F1 circles that Hamilton could reignite his epic 2021 title rivalry with Max Verstappen, who coasted to 15 race wins in a dominant Red Bull last time round. 

But Mercedes Team Principal Wolff has hinted that the new W14 vehicle could take some time to get up to speed, which could lead to a slow start to the season. The wary Silver Arrows chief was notably cautious when addressing his team’s goals for the new season before the unveiling of the new car.

“The entire organisation was pushing flat out last year,” Wolff said. “When we realised that the car wasn’t where we wanted it to be, we mobilised every reserve we had. That never stopped throughout the season.

“We are now getting ready to start the next season. I see so much effort, motivation, and energy in the organisation to launch a car that will eventually be competitive enough to fight at the very front of the grid.”

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Wolff’s comments suggest Hamilton and Russell could face an early struggle in performance and may instead have to rely on upgrades later in the season to challenge the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari for regular race wins. 

But the team principal later clarified at Wednesday’s car launch that his conspicuous use of the word ‘eventually’ was simply to temper expectations for the new campaign. 

“I was contemplating about that word for 15 minutes when we talked about the press release,” he admitted. “Because, on one side, you want to say we will be competitive. On the other side, you need to stay humble and realistic so you could be saying, ‘I hope that we will be competitive’.

“Humility is most important, we always try to be humble. Especially after last year, we need to remind ourselves we were quite far off for a long time in the season.”

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