Despite Mercedes’ Late Season Recovery, Ferrari Touted to Be in the Driving Seat

Winning 2 races from the season’s first 3, Ferrari had a blistering start to 2022. However, the Prancing Horse soon ran out of steam as Red Bull steam-rolled through. Mercedes, somehow, stood non-competitive mostly, only showing signs of resurgence towards the final few races. They even managed a win in the penultimate race of the season. However, that does not necessarily mean they are better equipped to fight the Red Bull juggernaut in 2023.

Mercedes introduced the final set of amendments of the season ahead of the US Grand Prix. After struggling through the season for pace and fighting through porpoising issues, the changes came as a sigh of relief. The Silver Arrows once again challenged Red Bull for the win in the remaining 4 races. And finally bagged a 1-2 finish at Interlagos.

However, former F1 champion Damon Hill felt the Maranello-based team is better placed to challenge reigning champions in the upcoming season. Speaking with Sky Sports F1 during the season wrap-up, Hill said, “[Ferrari] have got less to do than Mercedes have.”

“Mercedes have come out with a car that clearly they’ve misunderstood something and they’re going to have to reset, whereas Ferrari came out with a car that was pretty good to start with,” he added. “They didn’t capitalize through the season, and so they’ve got less, I think, of an uphill struggle for next year than Mercedes have.”

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently provided an update on the 2023 car. He told the new car will be vastly different from its predecessor. Fans, however, refused to believe him.

Helmut Marko feels Mercedes are in better shape than Ferrari

For the very first time in his entire F1 season, Lewis Hamilton went a full year without registering a race win. However, ever since the race in COTA, the Briton challenged for the top podium finish, barring the season finale.

Wary of Mercedes’ progress, Helmut Marko, while speaking with Bild said, “Ferrari is strong, but Mercedes will be stronger as a whole. Especially with a driver like Lewis Hamilton. He’s still a top pilot. Although Ferrari also has a very good driver in [Charles] Leclerc, he still makes mistakes.” [Translated using Google]

When asked whether he thinks Hamilton’s winless streak will continue in 2023, Marko answered, “Unfortunately I’m afraid not. Mercedes fought their way to us over the year. Although they are not yet at eye level, they have more time in the wind tunnel to develop the car. But I’m not too worried. We are on the right track for 2023 and with Max we have the best driver in the field.”

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Both Damon Hill and Helmut Marko are knowledgeable individuals with vast experience in the sport. Despite that, they have polar opposite views about next year’s predictions. What do you say?