Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, does not want to take it for granted that Mercedes will bounce back in 2023 after their disappointing performance in the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Mercedes has won the Constructors Championship eight times in a row from 2014 to 2021. Their streak was broken this year as they lost out to Red Bull for the title. This was because they had a car that was not ready to fight at the front throughout the season.
Mercedes developed their car as fast as they could and got their first victory of the season in the penultimate round in Brazil. Otherwise, it would have been a winless season for Mercedes.
Toto Wolff is taking inspiration from instances in the past where a team’s domination has been halted by some other team. Mercedes themselves had ended Red Bull’s domination from 2010 to 2013. Toto Wolff also cited the situation with Ferrari in the early 2000s.
“With Ferrari, to point the example, they lost the whole top leadership and a key driver,” said Toto Wolff. “I think that is something where you can trace it back.”
“With Red Bull, it was a fundamental situation that the power unit regulation changed upside down and [they had] no works [engine] deal, basically. So it was fundamental parameters that changed,” he explained.
Toto Wolff is trying to figure out how to stop Red Bull’s domination
Mercedes has been analyzing all the reasons that led to teams losing their domination in the past. Some of the reasons include a change in regulation or key personnel leaving the team. Mercedes are worried slightly because nothing like that is going to happen in 2023.
Even though Mercedes started off a season on a very disappointing note, Toto Wolff is very happy with the way they bounced back and finished respectably. This shows that the team still knows how to win.
Toto Wolff explained that the main issue with Mercedes this year was that they got the new regulations wrong. That is where Red Bull and Ferrari managed to jump forward in terms of performance. But apart from that, all the other ingredients that a team needs to win are still present in the team.
However, Toto Wolff believes that this downfall was necessary for the team. Mercedes had won eight titles in a row, winning more than 100 races. The 2022 season brought them down to the ground and made the team appreciate what winning a race after constantly losing out feels like. It is a sort of motivation that the team can use to propel itself further forward.
Therefore, Toto Wolff claims that people will look back at this disappointing season and say that it was required for the team. However, he also made sure to point it out that it is not a given fact that Mercedes will jump back to the front by 2023.
