The W13 is not a race-winning car with Mika Hakkinen saying Mercedes will have to do “something radical” to close the gap this season.
Mercedes head to the British Grand Prix chasing their first victory of this season, the Brackley’s best-placed result being a spate of P3s.
Should Lewis Hamilton fail to win the grand prix it will be the first time in his career that he has gone 11 races without a win.
As for his team-mate George Russell, the 24-year-old is still chasing his first-ever grand prix win having admitted a few weeks back that he thought he’d have it by now with Mercedes.
However, this season the team has lost their dominance in Formula 1, their W13 bouncing more than racing around the circuits.
The porpoising problems have meant the team is not able to run the car in the optimum window, instead forced to raise the ride height to offer some protection to the drivers.
That, though, is costing them downforce and pace.
Mercedes are hoping for better at the British Grand Prix, the team taking upgrades that they hope will “push the W13 forward“.
However, while they update their car, so too will their rivals with Hakkinen saying they need to “radical” if they want to even win a race this season.
“They have excellent drivers, there’s no question about it,” the double World Champion said in his latest Unibet video.
“We all know what Lewis has achieved, after all those championship winning cars now the car doesn’t work and there are problems.
“It makes you think, and I think it has affected his lap times.
“Russell on the other hand is young and comes from a poor team with low resources.
“Now he’s suddenly in a top team. His motivation is sky-high and he has delivered constantly.
“He’s been able to give lots of data for development. He’s done an incredibly important job for the team.
“Will they improve? Of course. But others will develop their cars too.
“Will they catch up with the others speed-wide by the end of the season?
“I’d be very surprised if they did, unless they do something radical.
“But the car they had in the last race won’t win races unless something crazy happens.”
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