Ted Kravitz on Mercedes' 2023 zeropod Hail Mary and its chances of success

Mercedes

Kravitz on Mercedes' 2023 Hail Mary and its chances of success

How much better should we expect the Silver Arrows to be in 2023? Ted Kravitz has his say

Stuart Hodge

Wednesday 22 February 2023 15:00 Updated: 21:06

Mercedes endured a season of misery in 2022 after almost a decade at the summit of F1, but will 2023 herald a return to former glories?

It took the Silver Arrows several months to even start to get to grips with the sport's new regulations last season, as those much-publicised porpoising issues caused physical and mental pain.

By the end of the year the team had made enough progress for George Russell to claim their only race win of the season in Brazil.

George Russell won for Mercedes in Brazil.

Hopes are high that the W14 will bring further improvement in 2023 and allow Mercedes to fight regularly for race wins once again. Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz believes that will happen eventually, but it might take time.

Kravitz on Mercedes' 2023 development plans

When interviewed by colleague Craig Slater, the 'Ted's Notebook' host revealed: "They’re giving their big idea - that was a failure last year – one more go. But I believe they have a Plan B in production. If they need to, they can go to a Plan B, which is the Red Bull or Ferrari style of doing things in the middle of the season.

"At the moment they’re saying ‘we think we’ve got a proper handle on what went wrong last year, we still believe that our way – unique in the pitlane – of having very slim sidepods is the way to go aerodynamically’. And anyway they say most of the downforce is generated by the floor, which you can’t see."

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So if Mercedes have got it right, what can we expect in 2023? Kravitz believes he has a pretty good handle on what they will be looking to achieve.

"They’re saying don’t expect anything too soon, but I think if they went away without three or four wins in a season they’d be disappointed.

"My reading of that was that ‘we’ve got more things coming online, we’ve got developments for the European question and we think they’re going to work’.

"But maybe the bigger question is why aren’t they on the car now if they know what they are, or have some idea."

This week we get the first opportunity to see the W14 on a racetrack in anger as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell head out for three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain.