© Stephen Reuss for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
By Bonnie Cehovet
Testing is over, and Mercedes did not do badly.
Having a strong track record in F1, the Mercedes team spent the winter months taking the information that they gained over the 2022 season and fine-tuned it to present us with the W14 – the team’s 2023 challenger. Yes, it still has some issues, but it is no longer acting like a fool on the track (thank you to Lewis Hamilton for spending the first half of 2022 running tests to see what changes were necessary, and what could be done with that version of the Mercedes car).
Like all F1 cars, the W14 was designed to be competitive. Let the talking heads recede into the woodwork for now. It looks reliable (no, I am not ignoring George Russell’s issue with a hydraulic failure – Mercedes is addressing that), and we will see how consistent it is as the season progresses.
The big point here is that I personally believe that even though it still needs to be fine-tuned, the W14 gives Lewis Hamilton the tools he needs to fight for wins and podiums. Lewis’s personal strengths include a very positive attitude, a tremendous work ethic, amazing skills, and the ability to get the best out of the car he is driving. He calls himself a beast on the track, and he definitely is! He takes his father’s advice to heart and leaves it all out on the track.
Lewis has won seven Drivers’ Championships, he has won 103 grands prix, and has 191 podium finishes. He has a strong work ethic and uses that to look for ways to improve his performance. He is motivated in many different ways to be the best that he can be. We will never forget Abu Dhabi 2021 – Lewis has a strong sense of determination to right that wrong, and achieve (for the second time, IMHO) his eighth driver’s championship.
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Lewis has a strong team behind him in Mercedes, he has sustained a great relationship with Team Principal Toto Wolff (if it could survive the 2016 crash in Spain when he and Nico Rosberg essentially took each other out, then it has to be strong), and he never forgets to thank the members of the team that we never see – those at the team’s state-of-the-art factories in Brackley and Brixworth.
It will also be interesting to watch how the drivers react to F1’s new rules about drivers speaking out regarding “religious, political, and personal statements”. Drivers can now “express their views on any political, religious, or personal matter before, during, and after the race”, only “in their own space and outside the scope of international competition”. Several drivers have an issue with this, and Lewis Hamilton has come out and said that he doesn’t care if he wins another race, that he is going to speak out on issues that concern him. Are we in for another conflict?
All in all, it is an exciting time to be an F1 fan. Let us support Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and the Mercedes team in their quest to win the 2023 drivers’ and constructors’ championships! Start your engines!
SilverArrows.net Member Bonnie Cehovet is an author and book reviewer. Be sure to visit her website bonniecehovet-author.com!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SilverArrows.Net.
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