In an era when second place is first of the losers, Mercedes have already conceded defeat in this year's Formula 1 title race, to focus on winning again next year as Red Bull and their ace Max Verstappen galavant to both 2023 world titles.
No matter what is spun our way this year's F1 World Championships are over from a contest point of view, with Red Bull having scored double second-placed Mercedes in the 2023 F1 constructors' title race, while Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez top the drivers' F1 championship table with ease.
Hence, no point in wasting resources on the current car, which is pretty much what all their F1 rivals will be doing too. The focus is on next year as Red Bull's dominance is vast.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes trackside boss Andrew Shovlin said: "Our ambition is to be challenging for a championship next year. We’re optimistic that we can do that. If you look at the step that McLaren have made, it shows that you can make big steps and we’re still understanding a lot about these regulations."
Shovlin: We realised we’re not going to be able to shut down gap to Red Bull this year
As for the current Mercedes W14 which underwent a vast change ('W14B' all but in name) away from the ill-fated zero-sidepod concept they persisted with for far too long, Shovlin said: “Where we were with this car and in the constraints of the cost cap, we realised we’re not going to be able to shut down that gap to Red Bull this year.
"Our entire focus is on making sure we can challenge the next year," declared Shovlin.
The Dutch Grand Prix was the worst weekend of the year so far for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was sixth, while Russell was last of the cars running down in 17th
Shovlin explained: "There’s areas where we think our car doesn’t have good enough entry stability when we solve that that will benefit both of them, even if one of them’s a bit more affected by another. The way you develop a car and the way you look for performance is based very much on physics.
"And while it might suit one driver a bit more than another, the machine that we’re trying to put lap time constantly on the car with is very much linked just to the physics and downforce and stability and balance of this.”
Whatever the case, Mercedes has little time to ponder the problem, let alone solve it by this weekend in time for the Italian GP. Maybe Monza will be kinder to them, no one knows... not even them.
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