Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged that it will likely take the entirety of the 2023 Formula 1 season for his Mercedes team to catch Red Bull.
While Mercedes has made a substantial step forward compared to last year, Red Bull has eclipsed everybody else to dominate the first three rounds of the season.
Having been beaten to the podium by its engine customer Aston Martin in the opening two races, the German outfit enjoyed a better time of things in Australia last time out, qualifying only behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull before Lewis Hamilton ended a chaotic race in second place.
Although it has overcome the porpoising that stymied its early season potential in 2022, Mercedes’ failure to be at the front with the continuation of its zero sidepod concept design on its W14 car resulted in team boss Toto Wolff establishing a change in philosophy was necessary.
And despite Red Bull’s large superiority over the rest, Hamilton is sceptical about the possibility of the reigning champions hitting a development ceiling on its evolutionary RB19, with the Brit accepting the possibility of Mercedes spending another season playing catch up.
“There’s a part of me that is just hopeful that we find a trick and we’re straight onto the right track that’s not far away from the others,” the Briton said.
“We’ve shown in the past that we can develop quickly, and I hope that that’s the case during this, as the potential of the car opens up, the guys can go full steam ahead in that direction.
“I’m grateful that they are open to making a shift and not being stuck with what we have. And I’m aware that it could take a long time to catch a car that, if you look at the Red Bull, is just going to continue to evolve most likely, although some cars do plateau in terms of performance at some point, it just can’t keep going, but maybe it can.
“They’ve got a great team around them, so I’m sure they’ll continue to add downforce. So yeah, we’ve just got to make sure that when we do make the change, hopefully the jump isn’t too far.”
He added: “It’s going to take us the rest of the year for sure to potentially close that gap.”
After previously winning eight consecutive titles, Mercedes began the latest rules cycle last year with a package unable to fight both Ferrari and Red Bull for podiums on merit.
However, an extensive development phase to get on top of its issues enabled the Brackley-based operation to eventually score a 1-2 finish at the penultimate round of the year in Brazil.
With Wolff already asserting the need for the Silver Arrows to head down a new route on development, the Austrian chief has promised that vast upgrades are already in the pipeline.
Mercedes will introduce its debut upgrade package of the season in time for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola come the end of May.
Following its third-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship last year, Mercedes is also entitled to more aerodynamic testing time than Red Bull as it bids to reduce the deficit.
As the defending Champions from 2022, Red Bull was meant to have only 70% access to its wind tunnel and CFD simulations.
However, it has been stung by a further 7% reduction after the Milton-Keynes side was found guilty of a minor breach of the cost cap last year for the 2021 season.
It means Mercedes will possess the benefit of 44 more runs in its wind tunnel than Red Bull, with the Austrian side’s team boss Christian Horner insisting the competition will close up.
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