Mercedes had a woeful 2022 campaign, but early signs suggest that the team is well and truly ready to offer a much more competitive drive to Lewis Hamilton and George Russell this season.
In a tweet, Mercedes claimed that the W14 is 12 kg lighter than its predecessor.
This should result in the car operating much faster than it did last term.
As far as the livery is concerned, one can expect the Silver Arrows to return to the iconic silver and black colour combination.
The reports also state that the team will be bringing back the iconic silver and black livery for the upcoming season. A Tweet from @MF1Motorsports, which posts regular news about the team, read:
“The Mercedes AMG W14 E Performance will have a silver x black livery (not full silver or black livery) based on the latest information. The W14 is 12 KG lighter than the W13 currently, also making the car 3KG underweight. #W14,” the team tweeted.
This reduction in weight might well seem like a great move for Mercedes, but there are some potential problems the team will face as well.
FIA had set a 798 kg minimum weight for its cars in 2022, but this has now been relaced by another two kilos.
That means that 796 kg is now the new minimum dry weight a 2023 challenger should have.
However, if the car is 12 kg lighter than the W13, it will be 3 kg under the minimum requirement and this could prove to be a tough problem to tackle with the season fast approaching.
Mercedes will also be hoping for better reliability this season and more importantly, will hope that the engineers have managed to solve the aerodynamics problems that plagued the W13.
The team’s last season was hampered by severe porpoising issues throughout the campaign, with things getting so bad that Lewis Hamilton even walked out of his car during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix clutching his back due to discomfort.
This season will be pivotal for both Hamilton and Russell.
While seven-time world champion Hamilton is in the twilight of his career, he continues to chase an elusive eighth world championship which will set him apart from Michael Schumacher as the sport’s most successful driver ever.
Meanwhile, Russell will hope that he can prove that his 2022 points tally, one where he finished the season ahead of the more fancied Hamilton, was no flash in the pan.
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