Will Mercedes win a Grand Prix before the end of the year?

Facts : After 17 Grands Prix in this 2022 season, Mercedes still displays a clean record of success. The team led by Toto wolff has often said she was close to being able to fight for victory but so far none has happened. George Russell also saw Singapore as one of the last opportunities for his team to win this year. Despite a 3rd place on the grid, Lewis Hamilton could not compete with the leading group. So, will the Silver Arrows be able to put an end to this negative spiral during the next 5 Grands Prix?

YES, by Julien Billiotte

I'm going to make a confession to you. I can't bring myself to see Mercedes end the year without the slightest success. 10 years since that happened! In fact, we have to go back to the 2011 campaign to find any trace of a white season among the Grays. Even in 2012 and 2013, when the Flèche d’Argent was not at the level of Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and other Lotuses, the Star had managed to score a victory here and there.

As for Lewis Hamilton, it's quite simple: since his debut in the premier category in 2007, the seven-time world champion has always found a way to add his name to the list of winners of a year's Grand Prix. Including in 2009, when the McLaren-Mercedes was particularly bad, particularly at the start of the season, the Briton managed to win not one, but two races (Hungary and Singapore). Will Hamilton end up empty-handed for the first time in his illustrious career?

Despite the progress seen on the W13, Mercedes remains far from the mark and does not seem able to win consistently against Red Bull and Ferrari by the end of the season. There then remains the possibility of a crazy race with an incredible scenario. Suffice to say that hopes are slim when we see that a tropical downpour on a circuit as tricky as Singapore does not lead to a change in hierarchy at the front.

Despite this state of affairs, I continue to believe in the awakening of the lucky star of Sir Lewis, he who has often enjoyed success in the past. And if I had to get even more involved, I would say that the adopted Brazilian and honorary citizen of Ayrton Senna's homeland will win at Interlagos. In sport, sometimes you have to hold on to the irrational. That's part of its charm.

NO, by Jérémy Satis

Far be it from me to be unpleasant with Toto Wolff and his whole gang, but I really have a hard time imagining a Mercedes crossing the line as winner by the end of the season. For what ? Firstly because there are only five short rounds left, and that frankly does not represent many remaining opportunities. Then, because Singapore is already in the retro and the brand with the star missed its chance, missing pole position with Lewis Hamilton by 54 thousandths. Didn't George Russell say that he was banking on Singapore or Austin for a Mercedes success? That’s already one cartridge less…

In my opinion, the question is not even so much whether Mercedes will return to victory in 2022, but whether or not anyone will manage to beat Red Bull by the end of the season, while the team Milton Keynes remains on a series of six consecutive victories. When Verstappen gets through after a blunder by the team in qualifying, it’s Perez who wins... Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are surely not the only ones wondering if they will win one of the five remaining races, Charles Leclerc et Carlos Sainz are also worried about it, knowing that neither the W13 nor the F1-75 will not really be improved by the end of the year, the focus having been placed on 2023.

Apart from Austin and its pretty turnstile which could correspond to the characteristics of the W13 but which will not displease the RB18, the other tracks seem less to the advantage of the star. Suzuka turns a lot, but the straights are too important to hope to compete with Red Bull. Same thing for Mexico, where Sergio Perez will be keen to shine. Sao Paulo? Apart from the very slow sector 2, the race is played every year at the end of the start-finish straight, or at the end of the one preceding turn 4. Finally, since Abu Dhabi reshaped its route by introducing a longer straight line, the conditions seem less to correspond to the car of Brackley. At the risk of disappointing the great romantics, the pragmatist that I am cannot imagine anything different than what we are witnessing at the moment...

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