Wolff: "The DNA of the car is going to change for next year"

Mercedes may go back to the drawing board after 2022. Team boss Toto Wolff has indicated that the car's DNA will change for 2023. Despite that, the W14 may look a lot like its predecessor from this season.

Mercedes was the dominant force in Formula 1 from 2014 to 2021. In 2021, the shift already began to take place when Max Verstappen won the world title instead of Lewis Hamilton after a fierce battle. The constructors' title still went to the German marque, though. In 2022, it was Red Bull Racing that reigned supreme and won the constructors' title.

The third place Mercedes currently holds among constructors is not enough for Wolff. "The DNA of the car is going to change for next year, that’s clear," the Austrian is quoted by MotorsportWeek.com.

The German team came up with a very special 'zero sidepod' concept in the second week of testing in 2022. As the name suggests, there are almost no sidepods present on the W13. Wolff says the narrow car may return in 2023. "It doesn’t necessarily mean that our bodywork is going to look very different," he says.

The reason Mercedes could not gain much time in 2022 was quite simple according to Wolff. This is because the introduced budget cap and limited time in the wind tunnel meant the team could not produce new parts endlessly.