Despite their recent success, Mercedes find themselves in a trickier position than they did at the beginning of the 2023 F1 season. At the very start, the Silver Arrows were calibrated to catch up to the surprisingly rapid Aston Martin team. They did that, but no sooner had their jubilation settled, that bang came McLaren out of nowhere to pose yet another challenge and drag them back to square one. All this does for Toto Wolff & Co. is add yet another hurdle in their bid to reclaim the top spot in the sport.

The Papaya team were in high spirits at the British Grand Prix. Both their drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri extracted the maximum out of the rejuvenated MCL60 to give the team a 2-4 finish respectively. But do Mercedes have an answer? Or only excuses?

Toto Wolff passes the buck onto the FIA for 2023 impasse

Toto Wolff has led the Silver Arrows to eight glorious years at the very pinnacle of Formula 1. You’d expect him to exude that winning mentality even when they’re down in the dumps. However, the Austrian has taken the very opposite route while addressing the meteoric rise of McLaren.

Wolff was quoted by Motorsport-Total.com as saying, “To be fair, they had a lot more time in the wind tunnel to develop upgrades that completely change the performance of the car,” [translated via Google Translate] while referring to the reverse step-ladder approach the sport has taken with doling out development and wind-tunnel time depending on your position in the Constructors’ championship last year.

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While Wolff chose to take the easy way out, his star driver Lewis Hamilton took it on the chin.

Read More: 9 Days After Witnessing Toto Wolff Wishing for Lewis Hamilton’s 8th Championship, F1 CEO Gushes Over Rival Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton acknowledges McLaren wake-up call

7x champion Lewis Hamilton has over the years reminded us exactly why he is considered as the greatest Formula 1 driver ever. That being said, it bodes well for the Brit to keep the same mentality even when he’s been struggling for decent results.

Rather than passing the buck on to his team for not being able to keep up with the rapid progress McLaren has made, the Brit simply said, “It’s not a blow, it’s just a wake-up call for us, McLaren have overtaken us and we need to do more,” as quoted by The Race.

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Can Lewis Hamilton and Co. catch up to Red Bull by the end of 2023?