Mercedes will put its 2022 trouble car in the reception of two F1 factories as a reminder of how difficult it is to win Formula 1, after Toto Wolff declared: “Next year We will be back.”
After eight consecutive constructors’ titles, Mercedes won just a single race this year at last week’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
At the Abu Dhabi finale, Mercedes was unable to beat Ferrari to win the second-place championship.
Mercedes F1 boss Wolff said the team’s W13 car must be the driving force for it to return to the front.
“First of all, we’re going to take this car into reception in Brackley and Brixworth to remind us every day how tough it can be,” Wolff said after the year’s final race, before turning the camera on. to the people watching there. factories.
“To everyone watching today at HPP [High Performance Powertrains] and MGP… this is character building season. Not a blip for a race but a whole season. You continue to give your best, the engine works great and I’m proud of what we achieved there.
“In terms of chassis, there are more bad moments than good moments, but the good moments are spectacular, like a week ago, for example. It made us feel how good it could be and now. We are pushing for next year.
“It’s bad, it’s bad and it’s okay to feel that way… but next year, we’ll be back.”
Wolff said the last race of the year summed up the team’s entire season. Lewis Hamilton retired late because of hydraulic problems, while George Russell appeared to give up on the last leg of his way to a distant fifth place.
“That’s really not good, all the mistakes you can make,” he said. “A car wasn’t speeding. It should have been the third fastest car of the day. One broke down and the other ran out of tires.
“It’s an accurate summary of the season… and here we are.”
He added: “I think we warmed up the tires for the first few laps, we attacked hard, the car seemed really good and then the front right gave up. we should anticipate [it].
“We knew Abu Dhabi was going to be a tough race for the car so the correlation was good. Brazil was spectacular, dominated from start to finish with a one-two score and at least we ticked the box. with victory in the race.”
