Charles Leclerc believes Mercedes will return to its pre-2022 form and fight for the Formula 1 title next year, expecting it to have resolved its on-track struggles.
F1’s new technical regulations threw Mercedes off-guard as it saw its run of eight consecutive constructors’ championships come to an abrupt end in 2022.
The team’s lowest finish in the standings for a decade was down its season being blighted with porpoising issues that it failed to get on top of for a large part of the year.
Once it had rectified the problem and found performance in the W13, Mercedes was too far behind to trouble Red Bull and Ferrari in the battle at the front, but did manage to secure its only win of the campaign in Brazil.
Having overcome its troubles by the end of the season, Leclerc predicts Mercedes will be back in the championship fight in 2023 with a “very strong car”.
“I do believe that Mercedes will be in the fight,” said Leclerc, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “Another team? I haven’t seen signs yet maybe to believe that another team will join the top three.
“But Mercedes will definitely be there next year with a very strong car. We’ve seen how much they’ve improved from the first race to the last race.
“I think they understood what they did wrong, and this is normally the sign that it will go better.
“So hopefully it will be a three-team fight next year.”
Leclerc’s three victories in 2022 helped Ferrari to second in the constructors’ standings ahead of Mercedes, but the Italian outfit could not build on its strong start of the season when it won two of the opening three races.
While Ferrari’s year was ultimately disappointing with it unable to consistently match Red Bull as the season wore on, Leclerc has faith that the team will bounce back next year.
“I am confident because we are doing quite a lot of work at the simulator,” said Leclerc.
“We’ve been working extremely hard in the past year to try and understand what were the weaknesses of this car in order to get better for next year’s car.
“I also think that after the 2021 season, where we’ve been working very well and reset it a little bit from 2020 that was a difficult season, we have been working in the right direction and in the right way.
“This gives me the confidence that we’ll have a competitive car for 2023.”
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