Toto Wolff: Mercedes’s 2023 car concept ‘needs to be decided in the next few weeks’
Mercedes have struggled to extract performance from their unique ‘no sidepods’ 2022 design
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Your support makes all the difference.Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes need to make a decision on what direction they take on their 2023 car “in the next weeks”.
The Constructors’ Champions, who have won the title in the last eight years, have struggled to extract performance out of their W13 car this season and are yet to win a race.
The Silver Arrows currently lie third in the Constructors’ Standings, 159 points behind leaders Red Bull, with their unique “no sidepods” 2022 design failing to match the lap-by-lap speed of Red Bull and Ferrari.
As such with eight races left this season, focus has already turned to next year as Mercedes look to challenge regularly at the top of the timesheet once again but Wolff admits it is a vital call the team has to make given the “massive swings in performance” seen this year.
“It’s a very difficult situation because we obviously have a certain concept of the [2022] car, and it’s not like we can experiment a lot this year and simply [try] stuff out and test,” Wolff said, after the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend.
“So whatever we decide for next year, it needs to be carefully evaluated because our data doesn’t give us the results, doesn’t correlate with the reality. We have massive swings in performance that we can’t really get on top of.
“In this very moment to take a decision for next year, whatever it may be, changing the concept dramatically, how can you be sure that’s the better direction to go?”
Wolff added that Mercedes have “not committed” to an overall concept yet, stating: “There’s still internal discussions going on.
“Is it the chassis in its current shape? What is that [going to be in 2023]? Is it weight distribution? Is it where you can put the mechanical and the aero balance? Is it a bodywork concept?
“All these are different pillars of the car, which are evaluated and it could mean that some of them go, some of them stay, and that’s what we are looking at at the moment.”
Drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are also only fifth and sixth respectively in the 2022 standings, with just one pole position between them ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
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