‘The DNA of the car is going to change,’ Toto Wolff reveals W-13 disappointment led Mercedes to build new ‘architecture’ for the 2023 car

‘The DNA of the car is going to change,’ Toto Wolff reveals W-13 disappointment led Mercedes to build new ‘architecture’ for the 2023 car

Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff has been on a run to make 2022 a fairly decent season but has failed to do so. Mercedes has dominated the past eight years but 2022 has changed their streak to a huge part. With no wins yet, Mercedes are still finding some way to catch the top podium spot which is very odd considering their winning numbers in the past few years.

2022 changed regulations did affect and alter the championship table to a very good extent. The major work for the new regulated cars was to get back markers many closers to each other and it did so. But Mercedes didn’t quite get their design right with a different look on their side pods. The car turned out to be worse than they expected and couldn’t cut down the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull to a negligible basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuSnvYds6Pw

Toto Wolff didn’t hide his emotions regarding the failed 2022 season but will look forward to getting a better 2023 car. “The DNA of the car is going to change for next year, that’s clear. The architecture of the car, will change for next year,” said Wolff to Motorsport.

FS Video

Also Read: “This is all a bit awkward” Haas praise Fernando Alonso’s comeback moments before lodging a protest taking away his points finish.

Toto Wolff concerned about the gap to Max Verstappen and Red Bull

Christian Horner (Left) & Toto Wolff (Right)
Christian Horner (Left) & Toto Wolff (Right)

Red Bull had a very dominant season, they were miles ahead of any other team in the championship, and after the summer break, also on pace. Max Verstappen similarly had an amazing season with 13 wins so far. Mercedes being their arch-rivals from last season weren’t even near to what Red Bull had to offer.

Wolff’s concerns lay with the dismal straightline speed: “I think, under DRS they’re like 35 km/h faster than us. If we’re behind them, we’re like, 22k faster, I think it is, with DRS on the back straight. So he came from a long, long way back,”

“I think they’re still something like 8 km/h up on us, so we’ve got a lot of time being lost on the straight, probably four-tenths at least a lap. And so we’ve got some improvements to make for next year’s car,” said Wolff.

George Russell is fighting for the second position in the championship while Lewis Hamilton isn’t really far behind. The duo has been on top of their performance and consistency to give Silver Arrows a fighting chance, in fact, they are currently just 43 points behind Ferrari, which considering the pace gap between the two cars, is an overperformance, even if helped along by Ferrari’s own mistakes.

Also Read: Porsche looking to make an entry into F1 after failing to partner with Red Bull

Also Read: Carlos Sainz has the least race completion in 2022- Is it just bad luck or is the Spaniard really struggling?