Max Verstappen, who gained his first Formula 1 championship in 2021 in controversial trend, gained his second Formula 1 championship final yr with a lot much less fuss and 4 races remaining. Verstappen, undeniably, had turn into probably the most dominant F1 driver on the earth, if not the perfect, and the curious factor, final yr, was how little Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton needed to say about it.
Hamilton’s marketing campaign was marred by porpoising and by guidelines modifications that Mercedes appeared unprepared for. The W13 automotive was additionally unpredictable, because the automotive appeared to love some grands prix — Hamilton and George Russell completed second and third at Circuit Paul Ricard — whereas at different tracks — Saudi Arabia involves thoughts — the automotive was nicely off the tempo.
But don’t fear: For 2023, with its new W14 automotive, Mercedes group principal Toto Wolff says they’ve fastened all that. Or a minimum of the automotive elements. Or a minimum of they tried. Still, Thursday was the primary day of testing in Bahrain and Mercedes put the W14 by a few of its paces and appear to love what they see. From The Guardian:
“You need to provide a good car for a driver that has the ambition to win races and championships and we have that,” he mentioned. “We want to win. At this stage last year, we knew we were in trouble because the car was bouncing around and we were not able to drive it correctly. Today, it is very different. The car seems to be balanced in the right way. There is no bouncing which is good news. It is a good starting point.”
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Wolff mentioned Hamilton’s teammate George Russell was proud of the automotive and its stability, a key space which final yr made its efficiency unpredictable from monitor to trace, one other situation they seem to have addressed. “I think we have a solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car, which we haven’t done yet,” mentioned Wolff.
Russell completed with the fifth-fastest time in his session on Thursday, whereas Hamilton completed with the sixth-fastest time in his session, and Verstappen completed quickest in each, information that are fully meaningless, particularly given Mercedes’ historical past of sandbagging.
What we are able to say for positive is that Mercedes isn’t making any excuses in regards to the automotive this time, and, in the second yr beneath sweeping new guidelines, it gained’t have these in charge, both. They additionally nonetheless have arguably the best driver of all time in Hamilton, alongside Russell, who’s as technically gifted a driver as they arrive.
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The good cash remains to be on Verstappen to take residence his third consecutive title this yr, and if that occurs this period of Mercedes might be nicely and actually over. Mercedes additionally gained’t have anybody however themselves in charge.
Source: jalopnik.com