Toto Wolff admitted 2022 was "the complete disaster of all seasons" for Mercedes as leaders discussed what needs to be done for the Silver Arrows to get back to winning ways in Formula 1.
Red Bull ran away with both championships this year as the challenge from Ferrari faded away amid their reliabilities woes and strategy mistakes. Mercedes, meanwhile, were out of the title race from the get-go as it became apparent their car was simply not competitive enough.
The Silver Arrows made gains as the season went on and finally ended their duck, winning the Brazilian Grand Prix. Those improvements are why Wolff remains optimistic about the future despite being so far off the pace this year.
"We were very close to Ferrari, we won a race, we had 10 plus podiums, whatever happens at the beginning of next season, it's going to be another building block for the success of this team," said the Austrian.
"What I've seen this year in both factories is when things weren't going well, nobody turned on each other. Nobody was pointing fingers. Everyone was just going 'how do we get more performance in our part of the jigsaw? How do we get the car moving forward?'
"I also saw something which I think will help us an awful lot going forward, which is that in both factories, we trusted the process. We said we've got a process, we know how to develop a car, okay, we've learned something new so we need to adjust that process and we need to do something a bit differently.
"But inherently it's the right way of doing things. And I think that is something that's very powerful then from when when we did have the victory in Brazil, that we can look back at that and go 'okay, that process, that general way of doing things, is the right way'."
The team's technical director Mike Elliott echoed that glass-half-full outlook and emphasised the importance of accepting responsibility for what was, by their own very lofty standards, a very poor season. "I think the interesting thing is how we move forward from here," he said.
"I think we've got to maintain that scepticism and be honest with ourselves that we were behind at the end of the year and, while I think we made good progress through the year and I'm really pleased with the culture I've seen, I'm really pleased with the attitude that has been putting every effort into moving forward. We will only see a return on that next year."
