Mercedes had made a habit out of winning back in their glory days of the turbo-hybrid era of the sport. Winning their eighth consecutive and last Constructors’ Championship back in 2021, the team has since faltered as the regulation reset ushered in a new era in F1. After a challenging 2023, the team from Brackley had come out all guns blazing for 2023. However, as things stand, and if Bahrain was indicative of anything, the Silver Arrows have gone backward instead.
Naturally, after being a team that has dominated this sport in a way no one has before, the expectations from within the team and its fans have to be massive. Sometimes, too unrealistic as well. This is exactly where Mercedes registered their very first ‘L’ of 2023, and it happened off the track! After a disappointing, yet arguably solid result with both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing in the points, the team decided to write an apology to its fans on Twitter.
🚨 BREAKING: Mercedes have released a statement towards their fans after a disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix. #F1 #Formula1 #Mercedes #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/nePUPCxc6J
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) March 11, 2023
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The team would have expected overwhelming support in response. That being said, they were in for a nasty surprise. For most of the fans over on Twitter, this attempted PR play by the German team was in fact not to their liking at all.
Fans react as Mercedes blows things out of proportion on Twitter
As soon as their tweet went viral on the social networking platform, fans swarmed Twitter to share their dissent. One fan even commented, “.”
Let’s take a look at just a few of the fan reactions to Mercedes’ PR mishap.
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This team is sometimes so hateable it’s ridiculous https://t.co/n1maRb4F1z
— Does Max Race Today? (@doesmaxrace) March 11, 2023
Cringeworthy. They always take to social media and act like a team member has died whenever they've a slightly dissapointing result. https://t.co/YFM9yEj7Lv
— 🇧🇭F1 Simba1️⃣ P1 🍾🏆 (@SimbaYoyo) March 11, 2023
How embarrasing 😂 https://t.co/nc9o1OBETT
— Johannes Meles (@JohannesMeles) March 11, 2023
This is so cringe honestly https://t.co/vrUubwQhCq
— Hank¹😶🌫️ (@boxxforsofts) March 11, 2023
Mercs releasing an apology while Aston Martin and Ferrari haven't said a single word for traumatizing me for 8 years https://t.co/e4ssJq7ZPW pic.twitter.com/R3MD7mtNa1
— Krishna SV5 (@Captainrex_95) March 11, 2023
It would appear that the main problem the fans had with this post was the overreaction to a seemingly strong race performance. Red Bull was on another planet and no one really expected to catch them. And the fans were quick to call the team out on this detail.
What a load of nonsense… I mean seriously 😂 first of all its a sport & secondly its just one race. For the love of God, Learn to lose graciously! https://t.co/tdLLoc3oM3
— Curly Brown Guy (@curlybrownguy) March 11, 2023
This is embarrassing.
They didn't finish last https://t.co/71f9fClrsa— PILAR🦁 (@F1pilar) March 11, 2023
This is crazy u guys were 5th and 7th 😭 https://t.co/t19YHOtNPe
— Nic (@TheyCallMeChuu2) March 11, 2023
This is honestly embarrassing. Imagine apologising to fans because they can't handle not getting a 1-2 every weekend https://t.co/1yxrqYRIfW
— TomEvansPhotos (@TomEvansPhotos) March 11, 2023
The team was called out left, right, and center for this. Though their intentions were in good faith, fans quickly pointed the finger at them for being bad losers and being more focused on creating a PR-based image rather than fixing the apparent problems with the W14.
Biggest PR merchants in the world of sports, same as their drivers. Shameful team💀
— Reazzyy (@itsReaz) March 11, 2023
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The most pathetic team on the grid and that's saying something https://t.co/EAuzIRQgyW
— elle (@deirdrskye) March 11, 2023
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What did you make of this apology from the Silver Arrows?