Square of honor
In the grand finale in Abu Dhabi the Mercedes she managed to save, thanks also to the five-second penalty inflicted on Sergio Perez, the second position in the Manufacturers’ standings from the assault of Ferrari. The Brackley team thus took a step forward compared to 2022, when they occupied the third step of the podium in the championship. However, this place of honor is certainly not enough to make the season of the Brackley team satisfactory, which for the first time since 2011 – the second season since its return to F1 as the official team of the silver arrows – failed to win not even one victory in the calendar year.
First time since 2006
In terms of numbers, 2023 for the Stuttgart company was exceptionally negative for another reason. Despite the significant exploits achieved by Aston Martin and McLaren respectively in the first and second half of the season, in fact, no Mercedes-powered car has ever reached the top step of the podium.
It even was since 2006 the Stella company has not remained without victories even as an engine engineer. At the time the Mercedes engines, brought to the track by McLaren alone, achieved nine podiums but Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Pedro de la Rosa (the three drivers fielded by the Woking team during that season) achieved a maximum of second place in competition.
Singapore’s missed opportunity
This year combining the results of Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin the podiums obtained by the Brixworth power units were 25. However, he never reached beyond second place at the finish line. Hamilton, Alonso, Norris and Piastri all came close to success on at least one occasion, but it was never possible to complete the final decisive step. From this point of view the race that leaves the greater bitterness in the mouth to the Mercedes ‘family’ is that of Singapore, when in Red Bull’s only weekend of crisis the various Norris, Hamilton and Russsell failed to beat Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, surprising winner of the Marina Bay race.
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