After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff could not contain his rage and frustration, calling it the team’s worst weekend in thirteen years.
Mercedes will begin developing their 2024 vehicle plans from scratch, according to Toto Wolff, following the team’s darkest period in history.
Max Verstappen won the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton finishing eighth, more than a minute behind him. When the team retired George Russell’s car because an engine failure was imminent, he was even more disoriented.
The Mercedes cars’ enormous rear wings increased drag during straights and caused excessive tire wear during corners, which increased tyre degradation. They were therefore only the sixth fastest.
However, Wolff is preparing a complete overhaul because he is aware that their cars have more issues than just the rear wings. Following the Interlagos race, he said, “A lot of change [is needed].” Next year, we’ll need a different vehicle. And today is evidence that’s the correct course of action.
“At least we are certain that the current course of change is correct. The team as a whole is in terrible shape. And I hope we can focus on the new car from the beginning of the new season. Mechanically, there’s a fundamental problem. It’s not the car being a little too high, nor is it a rear wing. given that we are discussing a millimeter or two.
“That is performance but it is not the explanation for a total off-weekend. This car, the development of this car, has been more plasters we put on something not right, and it shows that it is so unpredictable that it can swing either side.”
An upgrade introduced two weeks ago at the United States Grand Prix appeared to have made a big difference as Hamilton finished second in Austin, before being disqualified, and repeated the trick a week later in Mexico City – and that result was allowed to stand.
But everything fell apart again in Brazil with Mercedes much slower than everyone thought. The fact the Silver Arrows continue to have such big fluctuations in their performance leads Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok to believe that the team is still clueless about what makes the W14s tick.
“I think [Hamilton] was only about 10 seconds away from being lapped, said the former HRT driver. “So yeah, I think there’s a lot of head-scratching going on there. They need to understand as a collective group where the root of this problem is because they’ve had the highs of the last couple of races where they were quick. Let’s not forget they were excluded in Austin.
“But if you have these ups and downs and don’t know why, it’s impossible to put together a world championship campaign and compete for the title. In the event that you reached a track and decided to “take it on the chin” because you knew you would struggle and be weak in this situation.
That is acceptable, but it doesn’t appear to be the case. They don’t seem to get why the lows are the lowest lows and the highs are the highs. And I believe that will be a concern for the upcoming year.”
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