“Not What We Meant by Rocketship”: Toto Wolff & Co. Given a Heart Attack After Lewis Hamilton’s Crash as Fans Conjure Up Conspiracy Theories

Going into the Monaco GP, one of F1’s biggest stories is Mercedes‘ highly anticipated car upgrade. After the Silver Arrows clearly misjudged the 2022 regulations, the Imola package is expected to be their first step in the right direction. However, due to the cancellation of Imola GP, they had to bring their upgrades to Monaco- a place not ideal to ultimately test an upgrade. But still, are there any indications that Mercedes is on top of its problems after the new upgrades? 

Just based on the evidence of practice, no, the Silver Arrows appear no closer to the front. Although they got off to a good start, where Lewis Hamilton ended the opening run in third place, he had dropped to sixth by the conclusion of the day, half-a-second back. On the other hand, his teammate George Russell struggled and finished FP1 and FP2 in a disappointing 15th and 12th places respectively, seven-tenths adrift. 

Coming to the worst part, Hamilton crashed his upgraded Mercedes at the end of the last practice. The 3x Monaco Grand Prix winner was a bit too fast into the bend and as a result, he found the fence, bringing the session to an abrupt end. 

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Hamilton was perfectly okay after the crash, but his car got stuck in the fences. So, to clear the track, it was picked up by a crane, and funnily enough, the W14 dangled in the air going through the buildings of Monaco. So, the fans reacted. 

Fans react as Lewis Hamilton crashed the upgraded W14 into the barriers in Monaco

After a tough start to the 2023 season, the Silver Arrows had promised their fans a better car this time with their upgrade packages. Fans, who had their hopes high, expected a ‘rocketship’ with enough competence to attempt to beat Red Bull for the F1 2023 title. But as of now, it looks like the once-dominant failed again. 

So naturally, the disappointed fans didn’t hold themselves from sending backlash, but this time, with a pinch of humor. One fan said: “This is not what we meant by “rocketship” @MercedesAMGF1 😔”

To enhance the drastic performance of the W14, the Brackley-based outfit brought six new upgrades to the Monaco GP. One of them is the new floor fence to deliver more rear downforce. But after seeing Mercedes underperform in practice sessions, Twitteratti questioned their upgrades saying, “Please show us the floor I want to see it’s not Walmart”

On the other hand, some of the responses were hilarious, teasing Mercedes’ repeated failures.

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Can Mercedes salvage their disappointing season before the 2023 season is over?