The less spoken about Mercedes’ 2023 season, the better. Mercedes went from winning the constructor’s championship to lagging so far behind they weren’t even in the competition. This drastic change came about after the sport introduced new regulations for the 2022 season, which the Brackley-based outfit misinterpreted, and, as a result, had to bow out of the title race. This is not a speculative statement, but rather an admission by the boss, Toto Wolff.

Mercedes has always worked as a unit and won an unprecedented eight back-to-back championships. However, the 2022 season was a reality check that nothing is immutable in F1. The engineers that were producing championship-winning cars year after year fell face first with their attempts this past year. This was a huge mistake on the entire team’s part, which is exactly what Wolff admitted to Times as reported by Formula Passion.

“We got the physics wrong. It’s not a mystery, it’s reality: we misinterpreted some regulations, placing too much emphasis on the search for performance in a car that had to run on the ground, very low. But you can’t run so low, because the bottom touches the asphalt,” explained Wolff.

“So we had to lift the W13, but that turned the tables again. It seems like a trivial explanation, but it is the reality,” he revealed the annoying conundrum.

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The W13 was definitely a learning curve for the Silver Arrows. It wasn’t all negative either, there as aspects that the team plans to continue with in the future. However, there are areas where the engineering team will have to start from scratch. Still, the team leader, CEO, and part-owner did not put all the blame on the engineers.

The Mercedes boss reveals how he assumes responsibility for the W13

Even if many would want him to, the Austrian boss will not change the entire functioning of the team. Wolff is confident the one bad year was the exception and not the norm and is spreading the blame for the W13 equally.

“We were lucky to win eight constructors’ titles in a row, something unprecedented. And that’s because we empower the staff here. It would be weird if I started meddling in technical decisions after such a winning streak – I’m in observer mode. —That said, I am responsible as CEO and co-owner of the team. And we, as a team, were wrong,” concluded Wolff.

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Let’s hope the Silver Arrows learn from their mistakes and come up with a better challenger for the upcoming season.