Toto Wolff: The Mercedes W13 'will always have a special place in our collection'

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently had an interaction with the media, where he addressed the team's ambitions for next season and the developments made in their car for the 2023 season.

He also spoke about the W13 and jokingly revealed the "special place" that it will take in Mercedes' collection of F1 cars. He said:

"I think this car will always have a special place in our collection – very far back."

Speaking about the developments made on the car since the start of the 2022 season, Wolff said:

"I think that, hopefully, [in] the next years, we'll do her justice, because the learning curve with that car was enormous. Our fundamental understanding of aerodynamic [and] vehicle dynamics correlation has really had a step change."

2022 was a challenge for the Silver Arrows. With an uncompetitive car, there was only so much the talented duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could do. It's unusual to think that the Brackley-based team was placed third in the table this season, as people have gotten used to seeing them right at the top.

The troublesome W13 had various performance issues all season, as the car failed to finish three races. Issues such as porpoising haunted the vehicle midway through the season.

The lessons Mercedes learned from the 2022 season will only be clarified in 2023.

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Mercedes sum up their 2022 F1 season in 4 words

Mercedes' Director of Strategy, James Vowles, spoke in a press release issued by the team and had four words to describe the team's 2022 F1 season.

He said:

“I think my four words would be: Character building. Challenging. So that's three of them. My fourth word would be: Teamwork. It's been a difficult year. We are a team that is used to success, used to winning, used to being at the front and we weren’t. And that really has changed the organisation for the positive. We are much better as a result of this and that's the characters that have built and we have built ourselves as a result of that.”

Vowles also claimed that the team was united despite their many challenges. He said that the drivers along with the personnel in the factories in both Brixworth and Brackley are determined to improve their car. The Briton also stated that the team is working collectively to return to its winning ways.