7 consecutive years of winning the Drivers’ Championship and 8 years of winning the Constructors’ Championship. With the 2021 season title missing out only by the skin of their teeth, one wouldn’t have expected Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton to fall down so quickly and so drastically.

In an alternate universe, the infamous last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP in 2021 never happens. Lewis Hamilton makes it to 8 world titles. He breaks Michael Schumacher’s long-standing legendary record and is crowned the GOAT officially. But in this universe, things did not play out that way.

Ever since that fateful night at the Yas Marina Circuit, Mercedes have only been falling back. They were hit most substantially of all teams by the new regulations introduced by the FIA. They had terrible issues with porpoising. The ever-dependable Lewis was visibly off the pace compared to other rivals.

But the Briton continues to keep his head up high and also tries to keep team morale in check. He said “For sure I’ve got to try and continue to gee everybody up, make sure we leave no stone unturned so that next year, we arrive, and we can fight for positions that we deserve to be fighting for.”

“I think what we always have to remember is this is a team, there are people at this team that have been here over 20 years and delivered eight titles since I’ve been here, and more before.”

“They know how to build a world championship fighting car. For me, it’s just trying to support them in the best way I can.”

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In a season like this for Mercedes, it is important that chins stay up. The ups and downs of sports are brutal, but they also offer opportunities for comebacks.

Mercedes have their plan ready to get Lewis Hamilton back to the top

With the 2022 season more or less finished for the team, the mechanics and R&D team have been working on the W14 with their eyes on the next season’s title.

Technical Director of Mercedes, Mike Elliott, said, “Obviously, we’re well into next year’s car at the moment. I think in terms of trying to predict what sort of lap time you need to find, it’s quite difficult.”

“I think there are races this year [where] we’ve been very close [to the front]. In fact, our race performance has been pretty decent at a number of races. [Then] there have been races where we’re some [way] away.”

“I think what we’ve been trying to do is to understand that and I think we do understand that now – we know what we need to put right.”

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If Mercedes is able to catch up on Ferrari and Red Bull with their car development, next season might become a 3-way battle. If not, they might have to suffer another Red Bull-dominated season.