The Mercedes Formula 1 team is still aiming to finish the 2022 F1 season in second place in the Constructors’ World Championship and to take at least one win before the end of the campaign. The team senior bosses have warned Ferrari that they’re coming for them. ‘Shots fired’ we believe the modern euphemism goes.
After a difficult start to the season, the German manufacturer’s team managed to get back into the fight with Ferrari and Red Bull from the British Grand Prix onwards when a major update was introduced to the W13.
After sixteen races, Mercedes is third in the constructors’ championship, 35 points behind Scuderia Ferrari, with six races still to go. As Formula 1 now heads to Asia for two Grands Prix in Singapore and Japan, the reigning world champion team’s goals remain the same, to finish ahead of Ferrari and ideally take one or more wins.
“We’ve had some good races, and we’ve had some not-so-good races, but I think what’s really encouraging is the understanding that comes from the simulation and the work we’re doing and the understanding that comes from the wind tunnel,” said Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott.
“It allows us to work out why our performance is going up and down, what we need to get back into the fight at the front and what we need to do over the winter – I think those are the key elements.”
“We want to try and fight Ferrari for that P2 position; we want to try and win a race this season, or several races ideally; and most importantly, we want to get back on track to fight properly for a championship next year.”
“It’s no disrespect to our competitors – we have fantastic opposition – but it’s what we really need to do. We want to be back and we want to fight for the championships.”
At Monza in the last race contested, Mercedes were showing good pace in their W13, with George Russell finishing the Italian Grand Prix in third place, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished fifth after starting from the back of the grid.
For the next round at the end of September in Singapore on a completely different track to Monza, Mercedes will be hoping to have a package better suited to the urban Marina Bay circuit and why not take their first win of the season there.
MORE F1 NEWS: Ferrari issues orders for big change
“When you look back at the learning we have from the season, I think we can expect that in Singapore it will be a bit more like what we saw in Budapest and Zandvoort.
“It’s a bumpy circuit that will bring its own challenges, but in terms of the nature of the corners (slow corners), we think it will be a little bit better for our car.” explained Elliott.
“As always, we’ll do all the pre-simulation work we need to do and maximise our learning in the free practice sessions, and hopefully we can turn that into a good result.”
MORE NEWS F1: Hamilton makes demands of other drivers
Mercedes should get Masi back since for many years he turned a blind eye for all the cheating and transgressions their brown one make on and off the track. Merc should rather come clean and tell the world how they colluded with the FIA to “win” 8 constructors and “7” drivers titles
Recent data shows that they have upgraded to the next level, specifically from Operations Director to Management Director of FIA.
Ferrari has the better car and more talented driver in Charles, Mercedes the legendary German efficiency, it’s gonna get interesting…