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Mercedes was looking to make a big step with its new W14, which unlike its predecessor is no longer crippled by porpoising, but Bahrain’s season opener soon established that the gap to Red Bull has increased again.
And with Aston Martin, which has closely followed Red Bull’s design philosophy, also proving quicker than Mercedes, it raised questions over the German squad’s decision to stick with its unique car design.
On Saturday night team principal Wolff admitted that he didn’t think “this package is going to be competitive eventually”, prompting what could be a radical design change.
While such a shift could take a lot of time and compromise the team’s results in 2023, Russell said he was ready to take a hit this year if it meant that Mercedes could finally be competitive in the longer term.
“We’re here to win,” Russell said after finis …