F1 News: Former Head Of Mercedes Positive Team “Will Challenge Red Bull Racing In The New Season”

Mercedes had a difficult year during the 2022 season and are looking ahead to come back fighting for the 2023 season. Former team boss, Norbert Haug, has said that he thinks the team will be ready to come back and challenge Red Bull for the championship titles.

The team struggled with many issues with the W13 in 2022 starting the season off with awful porpoising problems which left Lewis Hamilton with back injuries. Once the team were able to get the porpoising under control, it became apparent that those issues had been covering a host of other problems with the car.

Despite the difficult year, the team were able to make some significant improvements towards the end of the season and George Russell took his first career win at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Haug has spoken with RND where he explained he thinks the team will come back to have a strong start to the 2023 season and the team that will see problems will be Ferrari with their new team principal, Frederic Vasseur. Haug said:

“Mercedes will not start 2023 as badly as 2022, which will not make it easier for Ferrari under new management.”

Haug, who was head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport for over twenty-three years, added that he believes the difficulties the team has faced this year will only help motivate them to improve. He continued:

“I am sure Mercedes will challenge Red Bull Racing in the new season and aim to bring back both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles. The silver arrows will pursue this goal methodically and without compromise.

“And for those who think Lewis Hamilton is finished, in next year’s columns I am happy to describe how things turned out very differently. George Russell is an absolutely top driver – the best conditions in the record-breaking world championship team for both to spur each other on to top performance.”