The less spoken about Mercedes‘ 2022 season, the better. The Silver Arrows suffered through most of the previous season because of the poor state of the W13. However, despite the shortcomings, the team and the boss, Toto Wolff, kept insisting on the car’s potential. Heading into 2023, now the Brackley outfit is hopeful for a better car for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Toto Wolff and the team always had confidence in the car’s potential but couldn’t pinpoint what held the W13 back. However, with consistent upgrades, Mercedes managed a win in Brazil, thanks to George Russell, the highlight of 2022. Speaking to Motorsport-Nextgen-Auto, the team boss revealed they might have finally unlocked the car’s true potential for 2023.

He said, “I think we figured out how we fell back and where the gaps are, where we have gaps in understanding…or had gaps in understanding.” (Translated by Google)

However, the boss calmed the expectations down and asked to be patient until the moment of truth. “And we’re working hard to get a car out that has addressed all of that. But we’ll only see when we start testing if we’ve unlocked the potential that we think has always been in the car,” he added.

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Mercedes resolved the nagging problem of porpoising around the 2022 Spanish GP. However, solving the porpoising issue alone wasn’t enough to catch the front runners Red Bull and Ferrari.

According to Toto Wolff, that might be the case in 2023 as well.

Mercedes’s boss believes it will be difficult for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to catch the Red Bulls and the Ferraris

The Austrian boss believes the 2023 car will still lag in front of the Red Bull and Ferrari challengers. However, he believes with consistent upgrades they might bridge that gap as well.

“We have no doubt, when you start half a second behind, that it will be difficult to catch organizations as great as Red Bull or Ferrari,” said Toto Wolff.

Mercedes took the fight to the front runners in Brazil. However, that was an isolated incident, and Red Bull and Ferrari were back to winning ways in the next race in Abu Dhabi.

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The team back in Brackley is confident of their 2023 challenger and wants to make winning a regular occurrence in 2023. However, Mercedes will definitely need to bring upgrades consistently at the beginning of the season to catch up to the frontrunners.