Mercedes not expected to perform miracles

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board at Daimler

The Chairman of the Daimler board, Dieter Zetsche has warned against expecting any miracles from the team this season.

The Mercedes team was off to a splendid start last season, with Nico Rosberg winning the Chinese GP. But despite their good performances, the team finished the season at fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

But this season, the team is hopeful of performing much better, after a successful pre-season’s testing.

In an recent inteview, Zetsche said: “All these years the team has had great engines – perhaps the best in Formula One – and great riders so the cause of the lack of success was the uncompetitive chassis.”

He said that the team has not been able to perform at a level that matches the starts Mercedes have been having. In order to change that, he appointed Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, who will be the team’s new specialists.

He believes that sudden changes will not see miracles in the upcoming season. But then, he said: “After the transition to the new engines in 2014 we will have a chance to realise our goals.”

Regarding the many rumours suggesting that Mercedes could be withdrawing from F1, he said: “There is no point in discussing this possibility. We would like to continue to use this excellent platform for the benefit of our company.”