Formula 1 powerhouse Mercedes has posted an open letter to its fans after a sorry start to the 2023 campaign at last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows failed to inspire hope at Sakhir after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fifth and seventh in the season-opener, respectively. That followed a disappointing pre-season in which the new W14 car struggled to match the speed of its F1 peers.
The team's woes worsened when Hamilton publicly aired some in-house grievances, criticising Mercedes' engineers for not listening to his critiques about last year's design. He told the BBC ’s Chequered Flag podcast he 'knows what a car needs' and said the team missed the mark with the 2022 car and "haven’t got it right this time."
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Last year was the first campaign of in which Hamilton has failed to record a single race win, finishing a career-worst sixth in the standings. With the future looking bleak as things stand, Mercedes has sought to curry favour with fans by posting a public update on the current landscape.
"Bahrain hurt. It hurt each one of us, who head into every season determined to fight for world championships," read the letter, published via Mercedes' F1 website. "It hurt the team as a whole, after pouring so much hard work into a car that hasn’t met our expectations. And we know it hurt you, our fans, too.
"Your passion and support are so important in driving us forward – and we know that we feel the same pain. The situation we face right now isn’t the one that any of us wanted – but it’s the one we have. That’s the reality of it. And the simple questions are: what can we do about it, and what will we do about it?"
The post went on to say there are already "developments in the pipeline for the next races," which will be needed if they're to have any impact on the season's final podium. That's particularly the case after Aston Martin—powered by a Mercedes engine—appear to have made great strides in 2023.
The letter concluded with a warning to supporters, encouraging healthy debate during this, the kind of time when "character is forged." Mercedes outlined a "zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, abuse or bullying of any kind," saying they would take action against outbursts that didn't meet those standards.
Pressure in Brackley is at a peak after Red Bull started its title defence in the strongest possible fashion, with champion Max Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez collecting a dominant one-two in Bahrain. The pendulum of power in F1 continues to swing in the direction of Milton Keynes, while Mercedes' misery has reached new depths amid its call for unity.
