Mercedes got off to a particularly difficult start in 2022 after eight championships in a row. The team is still unable to attack the vanguard consisting of Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. Toto Wolff expects Red Bull to be the favourite again next year.
Max Verstappen already has his title and it is quite conceivable that he and teammate Sergio Perez will also clinch the first title for the team since 2013 next race in the United States. Red Bull had a lot to fear from Ferrari at the start of the season, but Mercedes lagged far behind. Toto Wolff talks to David Coulthard at Channel 4 about this difficult season.
Wolff: "Obviously, we have missed a lot of development time to find out about bouncing and purposing and all these things. So it's clear that Red Bull is in a very favourable position, not only for this year, but also for the start of next year." Mercedes is just not giving up so easily and Wolff believes the team is capable of catching up soon. Although Mercedes has not shown its optimal side in developing the new cars and perfecting the so-called 'ground effect', Wolff does believe the team knows what went wrong and that the problems are fixable.
Wolff: "In terms of losing, I think it's important to acknowledge that we just haven't just we haven't done a good enough job, and the guys over in Milton Keynes and Maranello have done." According to the Mercedes team boss, Ferrari was the fastest car on the track until the summer. The Austrian sees that the team has not been able to convert that speed into points. Finally, Wolff says that third place in the championship is not a miserable campaign all in all, but cannot wait to race at the forefront again. "There is no sense of entitlement for us to win every single championship because that would be foolish."
I am an engineer at FAANG, when we develop a software with poor design principles it results in what we call "tightly coupled" code, which resists change and introduces bugs. The only way out is to completely redesign from the ground up. I am glad Mercedes took time to find answers, the bane might turn out to be a boon and could help them in subsequent seasons.
If Ferrari don't get their act together Max is going to cruise to Championships until 2025.
He will go alot longer, as long as his car is competitive he will win many his just too good
Wolff will have to get some dirty on RB next year as well to help them win one race for Lewis..........
What about Mercedes designing hybrid engines prior to pitching it to FIA (This inside info was revealed by Lauda & Merc engineers themselves) That gave them a massive advantage from 2014 to 2021. Is FIA doing anything about that?
You have inside information that Marko and Horner don't? Why aren't they protesting? Never heard a peep out of them even though Marko talks gossip 24/7. Did Red Bull make a mistake by not hiring you with this amazing top secret info?
Having a highet budget for development over your 9 rivals helps. Red Bull should be title asterisks for 2023 I assume.
Not to mention 16 years younger than the previous WDC. Looking good.