Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has sent an ominous warning to their F1 rivals claiming that the 'puzzle is complete' as to why their W13 car has been trailing behind this season.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been left frustrated and without a race victory with four rounds remaining of this year's championship - which Red Bull have dominated.
Exactly what has been wrong with the Mercedes this year has not been revealed with some pointing at them introducing the revolutionary 'zero sidepods' design. They also had to raise the car due to bouncing problems in Azerbaijan, which caused Hamilton spinal pain.
“The puzzle is complete,” admitted team principle Wolff to Formule1.nl.
“The reason we didn’t perform as expected this year is that we didn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together. Believe me, this is not the end of our dominance, this is just an interruption."
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott says he knew instantly after the release of this year's car that the design team had made a 'single mistake' but correcting it has been a gradual process.
New regulations introduced to the cars in 2022 were brought in to ensure much more competitive and closer fought races, but while reigning world champion Max Verstappen continued his dominance with a second world title Hamilton has slipped down the grid.
"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.
If Mercedes are to re-establish themselves as the dominant force in F1, boss Wolff says his side need to 'pick ourselves up' and take risks.
“We have to be humble and have to pick ourselves up,” he added. “If something goes wrong, we blame the problem, not the person.
“Precisely now we have to find out what can be done better and take risks: we have always been strong at Mercedes.”
