Helmut Marko and George Russell agree, we will have to reckon with Mercedes in 2023
The director of the Red Bull team believes that there is more to fear from Mercedes than Ferrari in terms of both reliability and strategy. When Russell evaluates the team's strengths, he doesn't see anything preventing the Germans from joining the title battle as early as this season.
2022 was undoubtedly a year of dominance for the Red Bull team with no less than 17 victories in 22 races. With such success, it was more than logical that the team would bring back both the driver and constructor titles, a first for the Austrian structure since 2013.
However, the start of the season was quite contrasting, with Ferrari posing as a threat in the early races and reliability issues for the men from Milton Keynes. The end of the championship was marked by the decline of the Italians and the resurgence of Mercedes. The Germans even halted Red Bull’s streak of nine consecutive victories, as they had become a winning machine, to secure, alongside George Russell, the first and only victory of the season in the penultimate round in Brazil.
The strong form displayed by Mercedes at the end of the season was enough for Helmut Marko to elevate the team as the main threat to the reigning champions for the 2023 season.
“I would say that we should fear Mercedes more,” Marko began.
Mainly, because they have an advantage over Ferrari in terms of strategy and reliability.
And if we compare Red Bull’s success in 2022, they do not see a period of domination similar to Mercedes’ in 2014, as both seasons are the first under a new regulation.
“Our situation is certainly not like Mercedes’ at the beginning of the hybrid era,” emphasized Marko. “We don’t have a huge advantage with the engine right now. So it’s very different. Mercedes had at least a 50 horsepower margin over everyone else at the time.”
And we must not forget: 2022 was the first year under this new regulation. Other teams obviously saw what we did with this year’s car. So I think it will certainly be much closer next season, he concluded.
Russell ambitious for 2023.
The beginning of 2022 was very difficult for Mercedes, who had to struggle with excessive bottlenosing of the W13, and then a second part of the season marked by a significant improvement towards the end of the championship with a victory that bodes well for a better start in 2023.
George Russell, interviewed by our colleagues at Autosport, believes that Mercedes’ speed has improved once they resolved their bottlenose dolphin issues. A good sign to hope for a title battle with Red Bull and Ferrari this season: (e) I think when you look at the development we’ve brought this year and the pace at which we’ve closed the gap, there’s nothing saying we can’t achieve it.
(English) For about two months now, we have been clear about the goals we need to achieve in terms of development. And I am quite confident that if we manage to reach them, we will have a car with which we can compete with Red Bull.
They were faster than us in that race and Lewis was in P10 or P9. But look at us now, and where we stand compared to those cars that probably didn’t have the same development as Ferrari and Red Bull, we have made huge progress.
The fact that we are now able to fight for victories in races shows a lot of things. So, I have full confidence in this team.
« Perhaps straight out of the blocks, we weren’t the fastest car because of where we came from. But with the pace of development, I have high hopes that we can definitely compete for the championship,” he concluded.
