Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes had a difficult conclusion to the 2023 season, and the same could happen again next year. Toto Wolff has confessed that defeating Red Bull in either championship next season would be ‘against the odds’. Because of their pace advantage over the rest of the competition in 2023, the reigning constructor champions have been able to deploy resources towards their 2024 challenger throughout the season.
Mercedes secured second place in the Constructors’ Championship standings by outpacing Ferrari by a narrow three-point margin, thanks largely to George Russell’s remarkable performance in the final Abu Dhabi race. Yet, this achievement didn’t quite console the team, considering the substantial gap to Red Bull, who dominated with an enormous lead at the top.
Christian Horner’s Red Bull team, now champions for two consecutive seasons, set a new record with an impressive total of 860 points, triumphing in all but one of the 22 Grand Prix races held in 2023. This points haul was more than double that of the second-placed Mercedes.
As for Hamilton, he secured third place in the Drivers’ Championship, the highest among the rest, but remained unable to clinch a race victory, extending his winless streak beyond two years. The seven-time world champion ended a significant 341 points behind Max Verstappen, who stylishly secured his third consecutive title.
”Red Bull began these regulations with a tremendous edge in 2022 and was able to retain it,” Wolff remarked after the season finale in Abu Dhabi. “You have to admire their accomplishments from both the engineering and driving sides.” Beating them under the current rules is clearly against the odds.”
Despite this conservative attitude to next season’s development possibilities, the Silver Arrows have some reason to be optimistic. McLaren began the 2023 season in Bahrain with the slowest vehicle on the field, but by the end of the season in Abu Dhabi, they had ascended to fourth in the standings and were a constant presence on the podium.
Wolff agreed, saying, “At the same time, we’ve seen with McLaren, an update unlocking a second in lap time or AlphaTauri coming strong at the end and Aston Martin over the winter.”There is a key to unlocking significantly more performance, and I believe that if we are honest, this car will never be good enough to compete for a championship.
“If they can be, you know, we made the decision in the spring that we needed to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new for next year.” But Mount Everest stands before us.”
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