17/02/2023
NEWS STORY
Over the years, as Mercedes racked up title after title after title, the German team would often insist that it was the underdog, to the point that as the wins continued the claim grew tiresome, risible.
However, all that changed last year when the Silvers Arrows genuinely were the underdogs, the W13 suggesting that those suffering triskaidekaphobia may have had a point all along.
By season end the German team appeared to have got on top of its problems, so much so that George Russell was able to grab a consolation win in Brazil as Mercedes almost overhauled Ferrari for second in the team standings.
Insisting that much has been learned from last year's problems, though the best parts of the W13 have been carried over, Mercedes looked up for the fight on Wednesday as the W14 was unveiled.
However, as the Black Beauty was being admired around the world, it was a word in the accompanying press release that caused many to wonder if Mercedes is back and simply reverting to the underdog game or whether the German team is seriously concerned about the coming season.
"We are now getting ready to start the next season," said Toto Wolff, as he looked down proudly on his 'baby'. "I see so much effort, motivation, and energy in the organisation to launch a car that will eventually be competitive enough to fight at the very front of the grid."
Note the use of the word "eventually", is Wolff suggesting that his team will start the season playing catch up to the opposition, or is he in 'underdog mode'.
"I was contemplating about that word for 15 minutes when we talked about the press release," he subsequently admitted. "On one side, you want to say we will be competitive, on the other you need to stay humble and realistic.
"So you could say, 'I hope that we will be competitive' and the midway, going around the houses way is saying 'We will be competitive, we just don't know when', and so... 'eventually'.
"I think we are on the slope that we want to be in terms of our performance," he added, "but then you don't know where the other teams are. I think humility is most important. We've always tried to be humble, especially after last year. We need to remind ourselves we were quite far off for a long time in the season."
However, Lewis Hamilton appeared to echo Wolff's 'negativity', telling reporters on Wednesday: "We have the potential to be close. Hopefully, we will be closer and hopefully, we will have the potential to close the gap early on in the season."
"We feel like we've done everything possible with what we know," added Russell. "But as we learned last year, there are sometimes curveballs and in life, you only learn with these experiences. "Are we going to get another curveball thrown at us? Who knows? We're not sure.
Following Wednesday's shakedown, Russell said the experience was "smooth", but dodged the question when asked if he had experienced any bouncing, merely telling reporters: "We'll see next week."
Even following Thursday's filming day running, which put a further 100 kms on the clock, both drivers appeared somewhat non-committal.
"The day has been smooth," said Lewis Hamilton, "we got through a good programme, and we've come away with some useful findings. I generally felt comfortable in the car and I'm excited to get going in Bahrain."
"The car ran smoothly," added Russell, using that word again, "and we completed all the laps we are permitted to do.
"We know pre-season testing in Bahrain will be the first real test of the car," he admitted. "Nevertheless, it looks great out on circuit and the feeling from within the car is so far, so good."
Worryingly, speaking on Wednesday, Hywel Thomas, who heads the powertrains division, would only comment that he is "pretty sure" the W14 is "going to be a better car than the one we had last year".
Time will tell, and with the team having admitted that its issues were clear from the outset last season, from the start of pre-season testing, Toto and the boys will have to choose their words very carefully next week.
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