Will Mercedes finally conquer porpoising

When winning becomes a win of life, nothing is more painful than losing.

For almost 160 grands prix and eight seasons, Mercedes’ supremacy in Formula 1 was near-absolute. Any who dared to challenge their might were quickly humbled. Until Max Verstappen and Red Bull fought them to the brink of defeat in 2021.

The final laps of the deciding race “robbed Lewis Hamilton of a deserved world championship”, in the words of team principal Toto Wolff. Disgusted by the events which cost their driver an unparalleled eighth championship – while nonetheless acknowledging Verstappen as a worthy champion – Mercedes channelled that anger over the winter. The W13, the first of a bold new ground-effect era, was to be the most aggressive car Brackley had produced.

But that intense desire to remind the paddock who the best in the world truly was only made their eventual failure all the more painful.

The 2022 season was nothing short of a disaster for the former all-conquering Mercedes team. Rather than fighting to reclaim what Red Bull took from them, their radical design approach produced far more problems for their drivers than benefits it provided. Hamilton and new team mate George Russell rarely found themselves capable of competing for wins.

A long and frustrating year followed. The headaches of the drivers caused by their car’s brutal porpoising and stiff ride were matched only by the headaches of their factory staff from pouring over terabytes of race data searching for solutions. Despite their struggles, they were at least flattered by Ferrari’s own failures which allowed them to regularly stand on the podium.

But the autumn winds carried with them great progress for Mercedes. By season’s end, they held the consolation prize of a single race victory in Brazil and a car that was able to out-perform Ferrari’s at some tracks. Third place was not what the team had envisioned, but it was what Mercedes had to accept as they watched Verstappen and Red Bull produce a season more dominant than any Mercedes had enjoyed over the previous decade.

With the dawn of 2023 comes a new opportunity for Mercedes to re-establish themselves at the very front and renew their fierce rivalry with the new world champions. The team’s pride will not allow for another year of humiliating mediocrity. Fortunately, team principal Toto Wolff is confident that his team have learned the hard lessons that such a disappointing year can bring.

“I think we…