Mercedes F1 Team: The Review of the 2023 F1 Season

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team finished second in the 2023 Formula 1 World Constructors' Championship. For lots of F1 teams, the previous fact would've been cause for joy after a long and hard-fought season. However, Mercedes has had two bad seasons consecutively (2022 and 2023), considering the team's championship-winning standards.

Winless Season?

Lewis Hamilton scores his 104th F1 pole position

Even though the 2022 F1 season saw the team take a victory at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix with the failed Mercedes W13, the year was rough. You can imagine what the first winless season for the German brand since 2011 has meant to the entire factory, the race team, and its drivers in 2023.

When one of your drivers already has 103 victories in Formula 1 and the other has already tasted what winning a Grand Prix means, anything below that can't be seen as a success. Of course, winning is a process, and as NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo once said, those seasons in which you fail to reach the ultimate goal aren't failures but steps to success.

That mantra will work for the Mercedes F1 team's morale and has also been the case for its lead driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time World Champion remains positive for the upcoming season and that attitude is a good way to help the team return to championship-winning routes.

2023 Struggle or Success

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, 3rd position, on the podium with his trophy during the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP

Looking back at the 2023 Formula 1 season, Mercedes remained in the mix for podium fights quite often with Hamilton (six podiums), while George Russell struggled and only found a couple of podiums. Mercedes hadn't finished a Formula 1 season with single-digit podiums since 2013, but the team still won three races that year (Hamilton's first with Mercedes).

The team also had a Pole Position in 2023, with Hamilton taking his ninth pole at the Hungaroring. However, the team's best chances of victory came at Singapore and Austin, where less-than-ideal team strategy proved costly.

Mercedes secured P2 in the WCC with 409 points (far from Red Bull's 860). Hamilton was third in the World Drivers' Championship with 234 and was the first among non-Red Bull drivers. George Russell, on his side, was only eighth in the WDC, with 175 points.

Changes looking at the 2024 F1 season and the W15

Early in the season, there were changes in the team's hierarchy, as James Allison returned to his role as Technical Director to replace Mike Elliott. Elliott, who had been with Mercedes for the last 11 seasons, had been a key part of the team's success since 2014.

Initially, Elliott was named the team's Chief Technical Officer but left the Silver Arrows near the end of the 2023 F1 season.

Looking ahead to the 2024 F1 season, Mercedes can take positive notes from the last two seasons, and those reside mainly with the obvious quality of its drivers' lineup. Moreover, the team underperformed for two years but was still in the mix with the top class of the grid.

George Russell, Mercedes W14, 2023 Japanese F1 GP at Suzuka

The Mercedes W15 is expected to be completely different from what we've seen in the last two seasons. The car will also be different in places we couldn't see, which could be the most influential, life-changing modifications for Mercedes in 2024 and beyond.

The team's most recent glorious run, which started in 2014, was preceded by second place in the 2013 F1 World Constructors' Championship behind Red Bull. Can we see Mercedes making a run for both titles in 2024? It's a tall task, but the German brand could be in the fight for wins if the machinery is there.

Catching Red Bull could seem impossible for the upcoming campaign, but Mercedes' objectives with the W15 car seem firm. The decisive changes supposedly made to the new car could be a game-changer for the Formula 1 grid. Several aspects of the new car have been mentioned by Allison as key parts that will see revised ideas, such as the underfloor, chassis, suspensions, sidepods, and more.

Effective changes could mean glory for Mercedes in 2024, while failure to complete the task could see the team swamped not only by Red Bull but by Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin. To be fair, those teams seemed to have better equipment than Mercedes in several races throughout 2023, with Ferrari being the only non-Red Bull to win a race.

Moreover, Aston Martin and McLaren managed to be closer to Red Bull in most of the tracks that were favorable to their cars in 2023 than Mercedes did.