Mercedes head honcho Toto Wolff candidly admits: "The gap to Red Bull has doubled or even tripled"

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed that the team has seen its deficit to Red Bull increase by double or triple of what it was last season. Unfortunately, the 2023 F1 season for Mercedes didn't start off on a positive note. The car was easily the fourth fastest car on the grid behind Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin.

Lewis Hamilton finished the race in P5 and wasn't even within touching distance of the podium. George Russell, the second Mercedes driver, fared even worse as he finished the race in P7. After the race, Toto Wolff was in a somber mood as he termed the race the worst of his racing career.

He admitted that there was a need to change the concept as the current one isn't yielding the desired results. When asked what the next plan of action for Mercedes would be, Toto Wolff responded to media personnel, including Sportskeeda:

"That’s a good question and we will tackle it straight at the beginning of the week. When you look at where we were at the end of the season, where it seemed like we caught up a lot and it was just matter of which circuits suited us and which not. I think we’ve almost doubled, if not tripled [the deficit], to get to Red Bull. This is what we need to look at."

Speaking about the other teams, he then added:

“Everything in between, the Ferraris, the Astons, that’s just a sideshow. Everything is bad. The single-lap pace is still good, but in the race, we saw the consequences and to put it bluntly, we are lacking downforce and sliding the tires and going backwards.”

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What could be the realistic expectation from Mercedes in 2023?

If the team is looking to change its concept at this point, this is a major red flag when it comes to its prospects for the season. If Mercedes are willing to go down this route, then the team is potentially giving up on the 2023 F1 season. It could also mean that the team won't feature in the fight at the front of the grid this season.

It remains to be seen what change of concept the team is hinting at because that would mean giving up on two seasons' worth of work and starting off with a clean slate. There are certainly some question marks over why the team couldn't identify this earlier, but for now, the prospects for this season aren't looking good.