Toto Wolff '100% sure' Mercedes will rebound from 2022 F1 disappointment

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is certain his team will recover from their disappointing campaign in 2022. The Austrian exec is sure the Silver Arrows will not repeat the mistakes of the dominant teams before them.

Expressing confidence in his team bouncing back in 2023, Wolff revealed that Mercedes is spending a good amount of time understanding why dominant teams fall from the top steps of the sport. He told the media:

"We are analysing the seasons in the past for why teams that dominated over an era suddenly lost performance. You can trace it back pretty well; a change in the regulation, people leaving, a tyre that fundamentally changed. For us, the regulation changed - we got it wrong. But all the other pillars are still in place. I'm 100% sure that this was a difficult year that was necessary for us to re-energise the organisation."

The German team had an unsuccessful campaign in 2022 after having won the constructors' title for eight years in a row. The team was unable to grasp the newly introduced aero regulations, leading to a severe fall from grace.

Mercedes' 2022 challenger, the W13, was riddled with porpoising in the first half of the season. As a result, the team was unable to catch up to Red Bull and Ferrari, who dominated the rest of the field. Although the Silver Arrows achieved some progress with their car, as demonstrated by their win in Brazil, it was too late to mount a title challenge.

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Mick Schumacher to reportedly join Mercedes in 2023

Mick Schumacher is reportedly set to join Mercedes as a reserve driver in 2023, taking over Nyck de Vries's responsibilities. The Haas driver lost his F1 seat at the end of the 2022 season and will be replaced by Nico Hulkenberg at the American outfit in 2023.

Schumacher failed to impress in the F1 world in his two seasons at Haas. The F2 champion came into the sport with great promise, hoping to carry on his father's mighty legacy. The German driver, however, was regularly beaten by his veteran teammate Kevin Magnussen in 2022, leading to widespread criticism by the F1 fraternity.

Schumacher will now reportedly replace Nyck de Vries at the Silver Arrows as the Dutch driver will make his full-time debut for AlphaTauri in 2023. While news of the young driver's partnership with the German outfit has not yet been confirmed, multiple sources have indicated that the deal is done.