Mercedes‘ problems with its challenger seem to be never-ending. After a crazily difficult car in 2022, it appears from the second day of testing that while they might have resolved their porpoising issues, the reliability issues have hit the Brackley-based squad really hard in the face. The team is now concerned, and the speculations that W14 is worse than W13 are rising fast.

Although Mercedes said they were pleased with the direction they were moving in on Thursday, the first day of preseason testing changed everything. But all of this is actually surprising given the claims and subtle brags that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has deployed regarding the team’s new challenger. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, too, looked confident until a late-night meeting was reportedly called. Both Toto Wolff and Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin expressed their concern.

Toto Wolff, as quoted by Auto Motor und Sport and reported by Planet F1, confessed, “We’re a bit lost, as we don’t know where we stand right now.” Whereas Shovlin said, “We’ve not had a strong second day; stopping on track with a reliability issue wasn’t great and we have struggled to get the car balanced well across the changing conditions.”

And this has all the fans concerned, as they fear that this season could be worse than 2022. So, the expectations are low, unlike the car, which lost all of its downforce.

Fans panic over Mercedes’ situation

After a ray of hope shone on the championship for Lewis Hamilton on the first day of pre-season testing, things have suddenly turned bleak for Mercedes. Calling a meeting in the night could mean two things now: either all things are sorted for the team and they are just faking to throw their competition off their game, or they are just too deep in trouble.

READ MORE: Mysterious Toto Wolff Sends Out a Cryptic Message After Coming 2nd Best to Max Verstappen & Co.

The fans didn’t shy away from expressing their disbelief in the team, with many calling out Toto Wolff for proceeding ahead with the zeropod design and old philosophy despite an unsuccessful season and now signs of weakness creeping into this season as well.

Mercedes appear confident in their approach but would need a massive overhaul to fix all of their issues if they want to have a real shot at closing the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari, who are already reported to be a few tenths ahead of the Silver Arrows.

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Hopefully, the team finds a way because a three-way competition is on everyone’s mind and would be a small dream come true.