Mercedes ended the 2023 F1 season with a struggling car and a rather disappointing P2, having almost lost out to rivals Ferrari. But the ambitions of beating Red Bull haven’t disappeared as of yet, thanks to their successful and dominant career. The team boss Toto Wolff finally talked about their plans for the 2024 car to help Lewis Hamilton win his 8th title.
The Mercedes outfit struggled quite a lot this season although they hoped for things to turn around this season. However, the team continued to grapple with working out their way with a car so slow that the seven-time world champion was fighting in the mid-field.
Mercedes takes desperate measures to get Lewis Hamilton his 8th title
The horrid reality witnessed Hamilton bringing the team six podiums after pushing the car to the limit while George Russell only managed to get one. But, somehow Mercedes managed to retain what seemed like an improbable P2.
While this may not have been what Mercedes expected, it sure was a reality check considering how fast their rival, McLaren got in the middle of the season and bagged almost 10 podiums in a few months. Recently, Toto Wolff gave more updates about the W15 which was going to be inspired by their championship-winning W11.
#F1 | Toto Wolff on the W15: “We are changing the concept. We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the airflow…”
“I mean, literally, there’s almost every component that’s being changed because only by doing that, I think we have… pic.twitter.com/IQ9YlZRuPV
— deni (@fiagirly) November 29, 2023
However, it seems that the Silver Arrows team is changing the concept suddenly. Mercedes team boss said, “We’re changing the concept. We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chance, the distribution, and the airflow. I mean, there is almost every component has been changed, because only by doing that, I think we have a choice.
“We could get it wrong also so between not gaining, what we expect, catching up, and making a big step and competing in the front everything is possible.” With high hopes for the team Toto Wolff still believes that Mercedes is still capable of getting Lewis Hamilton his 8th title.
Hamilton disregards Christian Horner calling him ‘lonely’
Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull have had one of the biggest rivalry ever in F1. Recently, Christian Horner revealed Hamilton had reached out to him to talk about a move to Red Bull.
He also mentioned how the driver asked him if he could get a seat in the team but when the driver was asked about it, he simply disregarded the question and mentioned that he was not interested at all and it was Horner who had reached out to him.
In an interview with the Independent, Hamilton talked about how he turned on his old phone and had a lot of messages pouring in one of which was Christian asking him to meet up. However, after this interaction of a potential Red Bull switch, Hamilton started trending on Twitter for shutting down the questions with a single sentence.
Hamilton: “I picked up my old phone which I found at home. It has my old number. I switched it on, and hundreds of messages came through, and one was from Christian to get together and have a catch-up at the end of the season.”https://t.co/hboeXAYFfC
— Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) November 23, 2023
He said, “If you think about it, there are a lot of people here that like to drop my name in conversations because they know it will make waves and if you are a little bit lonely, and are not getting much attention, that is the perfect thing to do, just mention my name.”
Making it clear that he no longer has anything to do with Red Bull and the fact that he shot him down and also shut down the Ferrari rumors. The driver continued to give his best at the Abu Dhabi GP but only managed to secure a P9 while his teammate won a podium in turn helping the team secure a P2.