Max Verstappen’s Inevitable Dominance Opens Mercedes’ Eyes to New F1 “Reality”

Just like porpoising of the W13, the emotions are bouncing up and down in the Mercedes garage. Walking into round 14 of the F1 2022 championship, the German team was in high spirits with its recent run of form. However, all the highs came crashing down as the Belgium GP humbled the 8-time champions.

After using all the weapons in its arsenal, Mercedes turned around the shortcomings of its modern-era car and eyed its first top step of the podium this year. It is proclaimed in F1, ‘the stopwatch never lies’, and for the Brackley outfit, the timing sheets reflected a deficit of 1.8 seconds to Max Verstappen in pole position.

Henceforth, leaving the Silver Arrows scratching its head and trying to pinpoint the errors that cost them dearly. Following the conclusion of the race, in an interview with Sky Sports, Toto Wolff presented an honest evaluation of the team’s performance.

He said, “I don’t think you can be satisfied with [Max] Verstappen being in a league of his own. We need to really find out how we can improve our cars–the gap is just too big. That’s just the reality, I think we need to accept that.”

The disappointed Mercedes boss added, “The car is very difficult to drive and hasn’t got the pace on a single lap, so we just need to work ourselves out.” 

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Given that, it is Red Bull and its star driver setting the benchmark in 2022; it must be hard for the Austrian boss to swallow his pride and admit publicly about coming out second best.

Is Mercedes ready to sacrifice the 2022 F1 season?

Biting the dust in the driver’s championship at Abu Dhabi 2021, not only inflicted pain on Lewis Hamilton; but also, significantly impacted his boss, Toto Wolff. The Austrian openly admitted that the 2021 season finale still lives in his head rent-free.

Nevertheless, just like his star driver, Wolff himself is a former racer who believes that it is not about how you fall, but how you get up. Henceforth, kicking off 2022, he declared that everyone on the F1 grid has a target on their back this season.

Unfortunately for him, the Germans came up short in putting the right piece of the puzzle in the right place. After 14 races completed in the season, he told Sky Sports about the team’s goal for the rest of the races to come.

He commented, “There will be lots of sticking their heads together. Setting the sights on not only the next few races but also next season.

“I hope that [at] a track that would suit us more, we are more competitive, but we mustn’t be too much between depression and mania.”

“Today would be all the reason to be depressed, but in Hungary three weeks ago, we were thinking, ‘Yes, absolutely, we’re going to win a race’, so we’ll never give up.” he concluded.

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Currently, Mercedes is P3 in the constructor standings with a deficit of 41 points and 159 points to Ferrari and Red Bull, respectively. Where do you think they will finish in the standings this season? Let us know.