Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has indicated to start the 2023 season behind Ferrari and Red bull once again.
The 2022 season was a disappointing one for the eight-time Constructor Champions Mercedes. The team was nowhere near the frontrunners for most of the season. The side secured managed to score only one win and one pole in the entire season.
The Silver Arrows did manage to close a lot of gaps with the frontrunners given how far back they started the season.
Regardless, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has once again indicated a slow start. Mercedes recently revealed their 2023 car – the W14.
Wolff made it clear that the Brackley-based squad will be “starting behind” Red bull and Ferrari at the pre-season testing in Bahrain:
“So I was contemplating about that word for 15 minutes when we talked about the press release!” Wolff said, talking about word choice and Mercedes’s state of mind going for the upcoming season.
“Because on one side, you want to say we will be competitive. On the other side, you need to stay humble and realistic. So you could be saying, I hope that we will be competitive.
Nevertheless, Wolff is confident that the team will “eventually” be more competitive:
“And the midway roundhouse is, we will be competitive. We just don’t know when. And that was the ‘eventually’.
“I think we are on the slope that we wanted to be on in terms of our performance but then you don’t know where the other ones are.
“I think humility is most important. We’ve always tried to be humble, and especially after last year.
“We need to remind ourselves that we were quite far off for a long time in the season.”
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