Mercedes endured a miserable 2022 campaign by their high standards, winning just once and slipping to third in the constructors’ standings behind rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.
The season brought an end to the German manufacturer’s remarkable run of eight consecutive constructors’ world championships and also saw star driver Lewis Hamilton fail to win a grand prix or take a pole position for the first time in his F1 career.
But Wolff is hopeful Mercedes will be back in the hunt for wins and world titles in 2023 after a season of Red Bull domination.
“I’m always a half empty glass guy, and I see the risks,” Wolff told the Beyond The Grid podcast.
“As a matter of fact, if you’re trying to be logical, Red Bull was very dominant throughout the season.
“It’s going to be very difficult to have a development slope that is steeper than theirs, and also Ferrari – but I believe in the organisation.
“Fundamentally, it’s not about a lack of downforce, but a problem in making that downforce work on the car.
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“With our learnings, the values in the team, the empowerment and the no blame culture, I think we will be back in a more potent form next year – hopefully winning races on merit and fighting for the championship. But is it a given? Certainly not.”
Wolff added: “At the end, it comes back to the sentence, ‘The days we lose are the days our competitors will regret’, because we learn the most. Hopefully the future will be proof of that.”
Wolff stressed Mercedes are confident they have resolved the porpoising and bouncing issues that plagued their W13, and confirmed that parts of the car will change in 2023.
“We believe that we solved the underlying problem of the bouncing, but not all of that could have been done on the 2022 car,” he explained.
“So we believe it is going to be easier next year. We are changing some of the architecture and the layout of the car that should point us in the right direction.
“But as it is with these new regulations, sometimes you uncover one problem and then you realize there is a new one underneath.
“We have to be humble and not feel a sense of entitlement that we are going to get back into this championship and win straight from the get-go. I’m really looking forward to it.”
