Mercedes have had a terrible 2022 Formula 1 season. The Mercedes W13 has been a thorn in the side of Lewis Hamilton and Co. However, as the season has progressed, the team from Brackley has made considerable strides to close the gap between themselves and the front-runners.

The Singapore Grand Prix was a disappointing affair for Mercedes. However, on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton put his W13 on the second row of the grid. A promising Qualifying and bad luck during the race denying them of a good result means that Mercedes is still hopeful that victory in 2022 is still possible.

During their regular race debrief on YouTube, James Allison was asked if the Silver Arrows could still win in 2022. “Well, the answer to that is yes.”, said Allison. He explained, “When the car is quick enough to be near the front and with all the uncertainty that can happen in a race…you can get a race win.”

He also contextualised Mercedes’s hopefulness towards a possible 2022 win. “When you’re not the strongest car, those wins come slightly by serendipity. They’re not won by pure brute force, in the way we’ve been able to in past seasons.”.

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The Mercedes W13 has been their most troublesome care yet. The package has been highly inconsistent in that, Mercedes goes from a podium challenger to a mere midfield runner in between races. However, as per Mercedes technical director Mike Elliot, Mercedes has identified the problem.

Mercedes identifies an undisclosed “mistake” in developing the W13 that has stunted Lewis Hamilton & Co.

From the very beginning of the 2022 campaign, Mercedes has been vocal about the W13 not being close to the glorious cars it has developed in the past. However, on the most recent episode of Tom Clarkson’s ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast, Mike Elliot revealed the mistake that led to their 2022 woes.

Elliot said, “You look at how we developed the car, and I can point to one moment in time last year where we did something where I think we made a mistake.”. He did not disclose the exact nature of the mistake however, he explained how they’ve made strides in rectifying it.

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“What you’re seeing in terms of performance and the way it swings from race to race as a consequence of that, and that’s a mistake we’ve known about for a while, and something we’ve been correcting and that’s why our performance has gradually got better.”.

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Do you think Mercedes can bag a win in 2022?