Mercedes’ serious dolphin problems for 2022 are well documented, with the team unable to run the W13 to the minimum level it wants to extract its ultimate performance from.

But fortunes changed for the Brackley team in the second half of the season, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell becoming increasingly competitive.

Of course, the pair have claimed their fair share of podiums, but reliability issues with one of the Ferraris have often helped them.

But in Mexico, where Russell and Hamilton beat Sergio Perez and Ferrari in qualifying, there were signs Mercedes was starting to turn things around. Russell’s 1-2 win over Hamilton in Sao Paulo seemed to suggest its unique concept was on its way to success.

According to team principal Toto Wolff, the late upturn in form has sparked a “perfect storm” for the team to hold on in 2023 and stick with the W14 car, which uses a similar concept.

Until the season opener in Bahrain, when Mercedes was freed from the shackles of the Dolphin and found that it had actually lost to Red Bull rather than catch up, it should have continued to change course, with the shift now underway taking its place It’s Imola.

“A perfect storm,” Wolff said of Russell’s victory in Brazil in an exclusive interview with Autosport.

“It’s getting better and better and better. We were competitive in the US race. We won at Interlagos and we knew Abu Dhabi (where Mercedes struggled) was a bit different.

“That was a perfect storm for us. It wasn’t good for 2023. We thought we were on the right track and the concept worked. But it didn’t.

“Last year was tough because we didn’t understand it. Surprisingly, we put the car in an area where it didn’t produce any performance. Not a performance that we thought was important, anyway.

“And this year, the second year of the regulation, there’s a lot of evidence that something went wrong.”

Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton finishes second and is congratulated by Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell

Photography: John Toscano / motorsport pictures

Instead of being swayed by some of its strong 2023 performances, such as Hamilton’s second-place finish in Australia, Mercedes is doubling down on plans for a car change, given Brazil’s false dawn.

It also has the task of coming up with a more comfortable car layout for Hamilton, as the seven-time world champion has yet to find his groove due to certain characteristics of the W14.

While Red Bull looks set to win the title at a faster pace than in 2022, Wolff says he doesn’t want to stop “aiming for the stars”, with an intermediate goal of fending off challenge from Ferrari and a surprise package in 2023, Aston Martin.

“I don’t want to change my goal of fighting for the world title yet, even though it doesn’t seem realistic,” he explained.

“But I want to keep the momentum high and do the best possible job. We’re taking some steps to change the layout of the car starting with Imola and we’ll have to see how it performs.

“There’s one team that’s way ahead of everyone else. Then there’s Ferrari, Aston Martin and us three teams fighting for the rest of the team. I think we need to beat those two before you can dream of coming back and then you To aim to win championships. So, it’s like a two-way goal.”

Formula 1’s budget caps won’t help teams forced to make massive changes, but Wolff admits “that’s what we want” and Aston has shown huge improvements can be made.

“That’s what we want. We want to have a more financially sustainable future, we want to have 10 teams that can perform well within the constraints of the aerodynamic testing, and it’s good for the teams behind. A very competitive field.

“Where we are today, we just have to admit that one team is doing better than all the others and then Aston Martin is the next team you need to admit because they just took a huge step forward and it Just drop by for a good job.

“There’s no magic and nothing that makes the car mysteriously go faster. It’s just solid engineering and all the areas put together.

“So I think we need to aim for the stars.”