Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott says the Brackley squad knows what it needs to put right for 2023, insisting its deficit to its rivals is "within the bounds" of what's possible to find.
Formula 1's regulation overhaul has left Mercedes new-generation car without a single win this season, with only four races to go for the mighty German outfit to evade that somber statistic.
While the W13's porpoising and bouncing issues have been reined in by Mercedes' engineers, their silver arrow remains a difficult beast to tame on race weekends.
The car's erratic behaviour regularly throws a spanner in the works and undermines the efforts of its talented drivers.
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George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have consistently put points on the board this season and snapped occasionally at their rivals' heels. But snatching that elusive win in the final races of 2022 will remain a challenge for the duo.
Armed with the many lessons it has garnered over the season, Elliott's design team is now moving full steam ahead on next year's contender, and the Mercedes tech boss believes he has a clear path to conceiving a much-improved W14 for 2023.
"Obviously, we’re well into next year’s car at the moment. I think in terms of trying to predict what sort of lap time you need to find, it’s quite difficult," he said.
"I think there are races this year [where] we’ve been very close [to the front]. In fact, our race performance has been pretty decent at a number of races. [Then] there have been races where we’re some [way] away.
"I think what we’ve been trying to do is to understand that and I think we do understand that now – we know what we need to put right."
However, while putting things right will result in a better performing and more consistent machine next season, will that bridge the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of relative performance?
Elliott says his team will continue to put in the hours over the winter and rely on a diligent approach to field a front-running contender next season.
"You’re then looking to say, how much performance do you need to find?" he added.
"I’m obviously not going to give you a number, because that would be giving a lot away, but I think it’s within the bounds of what’s possible to find,” he continued.
"I think we’ve got to work diligently, work hard over the winter, but hopefully we can get ourselves back into position where we're fighting right at the front."
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