Mercedes F1 team has certainly improved a lot throughout the course of the season. At the beginning of the 2022 campaign, the world champions were way behind their rivals, Ferrari and Red Bull. But they have clawed back in the championship and have almost halved their deficit.
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They have certainly shown some speed in the recent races after they introduced some upgrades on their W13. The German team has also toned down their porpoising which was a huge concern for them at the beginning of the season.
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But the engineers on the team mention that improvements have been made through upgrades. “Our best upgrade will be one that you don’t see,” said the engineers mysteriously. [Translated by Google]
It seems that the new W13 upgrades will be hugely effective but not visually spectacular.
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All this ‘upgrades’ talk in the Mercedes garage might be the reason Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes The Silver Arrows may be more competitive in Paul Ricard this weekend.
Red Bull team boss wary of Mercedes threat at Paul Ricard
Horner revealed that the track of Paul Ricard will suit the world champions, and this might further allow them to challenge red Bull and Ferrari.
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Formula One F1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria – July 10, 2022 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action REUTERS/Florian Goga
“I think they’ll be a contender. They keep consistently scoring points. I’m not sure how far off they are in the constructors’ or drivers’ [championships] at the moment, but you know, sometimes having more cars in play is a good thing. Sometimes it might be a bad thing. But I think for the fans it is great to have six cars competing for victories,” said Horner.
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It would be nice to see 3-way battles involving the Mercedes AMG team in the upcoming races. The world champions have certainly made some strides to get back to where they belong.
But in terms of inherent pace, they’re still lagging a bit. Hopefully, the next major upgrade that is being teased by the engineers will make them a genuine contender in the races and the championship. But they have to be careful that they don’t exhaust their budget cap for upgrades.
