"Eventually" a frontrunner but "starting behind" - Mercedes' thoughts ahead of the start of the season; Formula 1 2023 begins with pre-season testing this week; Watch all three days live on Sky Sports F1, coverage begins at 6.50am on Thursday
Wednesday 22 February 2023 22:41, UK
Toto Wolff is adamant that Mercedes will "eventually" have a frontrunning car in Formula 1 2023, although the recovering team believe they will be "starting behind" Red Bull and Ferrari at pre-season testing.
F1 returns this week with a three-day pre-season test - live on Sky Sports F1 from Thursday at 6.50am - and Mercedes' pace is a point of fascination, following the former world champion's struggles last year.
Mercedes were expected to come into the season bullish after redesigning their new W14 car, although at their launch last week, they played down expectations, saying they were staying "humble" and playing "catch-up".
Team boss Wolff also only committed to Mercedes "eventually" having a fast enough car "to fight at the very front of the grid".
"So I was contemplating about that word for 15 minutes when we talked about the press release!" Wolff said, explaining his use of the word and also Mercedes' state of mind heading into the new season.
"Because on one side, you want to say we will be competitive. On the other side, you need to stay humble and realistic. So you could be saying, I hope that we will be competitive.
"And the midway roundhouse is, we will be competitive. We just don't know when. And that was the 'eventually'.
"I think we are on the slope that we wanted to be on in terms of our performance but then you don't know where the other ones are.
"I think humility is most important. We've always tried to be humble, and especially after last year.
"We need to remind ourselves that we were quite far off for a long time in the season."
Red Bull finished 244 points ahead of Mercedes last season - that tally itself being more than seven teams managed on the whole grid - and the Silver Arrows appear more realistic than optimistic before the season.
"We are under no illusions that it is going to be tough," said technical director Mike Elliott.
"We are starting behind and we are not the favourites. That is an unusual position for us to be in over the last 10 years, but we are focused on ourselves and working out how we do the best job we can."
Lewis Hamilton, who partners George Russell again this year, admitted last year's struggles were a "shock" and agreed: "I think this year everyone's a lot more grounded.
"We perhaps won't be the fastest out the gate, but we have the potential to hopefully be closer and to close the gap early on in the season."
Mercedes fell from a record-breaking streak of eight straight constructors' titles to a distant third in the championship last year and their new W14 has been evolved, albeit with the same no-sidepod design from last season.
"The narrow sidepod design is not something that we believe was fundamentally the reason why we didn't perform last year," Wolff stated.
Mercedes will, however, be changing the way they approach testing. Last year the team had two different cars for the two separate tests, although this year are committed to using their testing design in the opening Bahrain GP on March 5.
Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz:
"Mercedes are giving their big idea that was a failure last year [the sidepod design] one more go.
"I believe they have a Plan B in production and if they need to they can go to a Plan B, which is the Red Bull or Ferrari style of doing things, in the middle of the season.
"I think if they went away with less than three or four wins from the season, they'd be disappointed.
"I have though got high hopes for Ferrari. I think they can be up there and sustaining a championship challenge, all season long.
"I'd like to think it's going to be very tight, it's going to go down to the last race between potentially Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen."
You can watch live coverage of every minute of pre-season testing on Sky Sports F1, along with a daily wrap and special testing edition of Ted's Notebook.
The full television schedule is as follows:
Thursday 23 February
Session One - 6:50am-11am
Session Two - 11:50am-4:30pm
Testing Wrap - 8pm-8:30pm
Ted's Testing Notebook - 8:30pm-9pm
Friday 24 February
Session One - 6:50am-11am
Session Two - 11:50am-4:30pm
Testing Wrap - 8pm-8:30pm
Ted's Testing Notebook - 8:30pm-9pm
Saturday 25 February
Session One - 6:50am-11am
Session Two - 11:50am-4:30pm
Testing Wrap - 8pm-8:30pm
Ted's Testing Notebook - 8:30pm-9pm
There will also be regular updates throughout testing on Sky Sports News, with reporter Craig Slater in Bahrain keeping an eye on what's going on both on and off the track.
Finally, you can follow every moment of testing right here on the Sky Sports App and website, with a live blog bringing you updates and the best video.
