“I think we can close that gap this year” - Mercedes boss still hopeful of catching Red Bull this season despite the current deficit

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff remains hopeful of his team catching Red Bull Racing in the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Red Bull have made a strong start this year. They have won all four races (Max Verstappen 3, Sergio Perez 1) and the RB19 is comfortably the fastest car on the grid currently.

Mercedes, on the other hand, have only been on the podium once, when Lewis Hamilton finished P2 in Australia. Despite the visible performance difference between the Red Bull and Mercedes cars, Wolff believes that winning races this year isn't beyond the Silver Arrows' reach.

He said (via formu1a.uno):

“The pace in free air today looked similar between ourselves, the Ferraris and the Aston Martins. It was hard to tell who was ultimately quicker, though, because with the difficulty of overtaking – you are stuck when you are stuck. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, sailed away into the sunset on merit.”

He added:

“If we can get the platform right, though, I think we can close that gap this year. It’s not about adding points of downforce, more [about] giving the drivers a car that they have confidence in.”

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Lewis Hamilton claims he knew Mercedes W14 would need work 'from the moment I drove the car'

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that he knew the W14, Mercedes' challenger for 2023, would need some upgrades the moment he first drove the car.

Hamilton, who currently finds himself fourth in the drivers' championship, said that he expected the car to be off the pace in pre-season testing itself. He stated (via the official F1 website):

“Yeah, I knew from the moment I drove the car where we were, and the challenges that we would be facing. On a positive note, not having the bouncing this year is a huge plus and trying to understand what the problems were whilst having bouncing really masks so many of the [issues] – it makes it difficult to figure out what those are.”

He added:

“We don’t have those now so now we can focus on pure performance, so I’m encouraged to see the focus and courage of everyone in the team, they’re so focused on getting us back to the top. We’re not where we wanted to start the season naturally, but this is still a multi-championship-winning team…”