Reliability, the umpteenth problem for Mercedes at the end of the season?

For once, reliability was lacking in Mercedes during the last meeting, in Interlagos. Yet renowned for being one of the strongest on the field, the W14's mechanics suffered in the heat of Brazil, to the point of forcing the German team to withdraw one of its two cars.

Two-thirds of the way through the race, George Russell's No. 63 Mercedes began to overheat and had to return to his garage to avoid “possible fire and damage to other parts of the car”, specifies Riccardo Musconi, head of track performance at the German team.

According to him, the unusual case of Brazil will not condition the end of the season for the Silver Arrows, and will not have an impact on the last two Grands Prix of the year for George Russell. “He will use another power unit for the last two races, so there is no problem from that point of view,” wanted to reassure the Italian engineer.

Mercedes, a blank year 2023?

Beyond reliability concerns, it is above all performance – or rather the lack of performance – which has caused major problems at Mercedes. The main reason for this air gap? A raised ride height, to avoid disqualification on the Interlagos circuit. “We may have been too conservative with the ride height after Austin, explains Riccardo Musconi. Part of the answer may lie there, but we don't think it explains the whole picture as we saw it unfold this weekend. »

In the meantime, Mercedes has still not won a single victory in 2023, which could be a first since 2011 for the Brackley-based team! Faced with a Max Verstappen still as untouchable, at times McLaren omnipresent and Aston Martin in the midst of redemption, the German team will have to work together to hope for a success that would save their season.

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