The W14 is alive, and we have to say it’s definitely the best-looking car on the grid. It certainly looks fast, angry and ready to win another championship. If only liveries determined the speed of the car. Unfortunately, they don’t. So, what have Mercedes done to develop their new challenger after a rollercoaster (quite literally) season in 2022?
If you’re a Mercedes fan who was hoping the team would rip up the designs from last year, pop them onto a fire and watch them burn, this story may not be for you 😐
Not all hope is lost, though, as they have worked tirelessly on developing the 2023 car and are now reasonably confident the car will be better than last year.
Many of you may ask, why didn’t they start from scratch? Mike Elliott, Technical Director at Mercedes, said: “I think if you look at the periods we had huge success, obviously it’s easy to take the car you’ve got and think ‘well, we just build on that.’
“I think at times last year we were just questioning ourselves and saying, ‘have we made a major mistake, do we need to change what we’re fundamentally doing?’, but I think we know that if we go and sort of tear it all up and start again, you know you’re going to start further backwards.”
He continues, “Although we had problems with the car last year, I think there’s also a lot of things that did work for us.”
Whilst there may not be an overwhelming amount of visual differences between the 2022 and 2023 cars, everything is all in the details.
Some of the key development areas on the W14 is that they have completely changed their front and rear suspension. This has been developed to try and help with the weight of the car and the handling – something both drivers struggled with at the beginning of last season.
And although the core DNA of the bodywork is the same, there are some significant changes 👀
The black livery is back, but will a championship-winning Mercedes also return?
