The Brazilian GP turned out to be a huge disappointment for Mercedes. The Mercedes W14 performed very poorly at the Interlagos circuit. According to Toto Wolff, Mercedes was once again confronted with the fact that it cannot compete at all at the front.
Mercedes introduced a major update to its car a few races ago, but it does not seem to bring the hoped-for results on all circuits. However, the knowledge and experience gained are important for the development of next year’s car. It is the only hope that Mercedes now has left that the car will perform much better in 2024.
This is our route, we will have a fundamentally different car next year, Toto Wolff said after the Brazilian GP. This race proves that this is the right thing to do.
Last year we had a great feeling after the race at Interlagos, we destroyed the competition on Saturday and Sunday and we asked ourselves: Are we doing the right thing by continuing with this chassis?
Now it’s pretty clear. This is a terrible feeling for the whole team and I wish we could start the new season and focus on the new car.
The glass is always half empty, but we know that we are completely changing the car.
This is a negative outlier compared to the eight years in which we were solidly at the front, we have drawn up a structure with people where we participate at the front, whether we win the championship or not; I think it proves that the steps we are taking are necessary.