Mercedes chief Mike Elliott says his team have been gradually working to undo a design problem with this year's car, which has negatively impacted results for their drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The technical director refused to say exactly what was wrong with their Mercedes but says they will fully correct the problem 'over the winter'. New regulations introduced to the cars in 2022 were brought in to ensure much more competitive and closer fought races, following the recent dominance of Hamilton and reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
While Red Bull and Verstappen still have the fastest car on the grid, Mercedes have struggled to make this season's car competitive at the front.
"We instantly knew that we had got a problem that we needed to deal with," said Elliott talking to the F1: Beyond The Grid Podcast .
"We created a fundamental problem early on in the design that we needed to undo. I could point back to one moment in time last year where we did something that I think we made a mistake. What you're seeing in terms of performance at the track and the way it swings from race to race is as a consequence of that.
"It's something that we've been correcting which is where our performances have gradually got better. It's not something we can fully correct for a little while yet, we will do over the winter. I can't tell you in the technical detail as it's not something that we want to give away but I can tell you these cars are complicated."
Hamilton narrowly missed out on the drivers championship last season in a dramatic final race in Abu Dhabi to Verstappen. This year the Dutch rider looks set to comfortably win his second driver's championship while Hamilton is in sixth with five rounds remaining.
Elliott added that when transitioning from last year's car to their 2022 model, something went 'slightly wrong'.
"In order to get to the right solution you have to get the best from vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, tyres and the way the chassis works mechanically," he added.
"When you make these compromises they are technically difficult. When you look at this year's car versus last year's car they fundamentally run in a different way. They run closer to the ground and you've seen the problems with bouncing.
"Making that transition from what we were doing last year to this year we got something slightly wrong."
Before being controversially denied of last year's drivers championship, Hamilton had won six out of the previous seven years. Elliott says the team's focus now is returning to competing for race wins next year.
"Our head is all in 2023 and trying to fight back to be back at the front," he added. "Having the motivation from not winning will be key to us for the future. The challenging time as a technical director is when it's not working. To get that done now means that if I can cope with this means I can cope with anything that's going to get thrown at me."
