Seven-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton did not win for the second straight season, and despite Mercedes’ best efforts, his team did not experience any success at all.
Toto Wolff declared that his team’s best race of the year was the day Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the United States Grand Prix.
It was a particularly difficult season for Mercedes. For the first time since 2011, it resulted in no victories, owing to a W14 car that was too unpredictable for the team to advance far enough to catch the dominant Red Bulls.
However, the car performed exceptionally well at a few tracks. During the Texas race, Hamilton finished just a few seconds behind winner Max Verstappen at the Circuit of the Americas.
Nevertheless, he was later disqualified for having an automobile with excessive floor wear, which suggested that the ride height had been unreasonably low. Though Wolff, the team principal, recalls it with fondness, it is undeniably a factor in Hamilton’s car performance.
Additionally, the Austrian driver declared it to be Mercedes’ best race of the year in a recently released team video. When a fan asked him that, he said, “This might sound strange because we got disqualified, but Austin!”
“We were tracking down the leader, the car was operating well, and we had an upgrade package that worked. It’s possible to argue that you weren’t eligible because your car was too low, but the real performance was evident, and the weekend was enjoyable.
“I’ve said it all along: I’d rather have a fast car that we haven’t properly tuned. Of course, you have to finish. However, considering the strong correlation between the track and the wind tunnel, that was the best weekend all around.”
Mercedes held off rivals Ferrari to take second place in the constructors’ championship by a narrow margin at the end of the year, even after Hamilton was docked all those points. The low point of the season, according to Wolff, was a miserable weekend in Brazil for both of his drivers. He described that as his proudest moment.
“It’s challenging because there have been numerous instances where our expectations were high and they weren’t met,” he stated. Brazil presented a challenge since it was such a favorable race for us in 2022. We won both the main race and the Sprint race last year, dominating the entire weekend. In 2023, however, things went the other way. That was a poor moment, then.
“The evening of Sunday in Abu Dhabi was enjoyable. Although we naturally want to get to P1, I never gave P2 and P3 much thought. However, completing P2 was crucial for the team’s morale and emotional well-being. That was a happy occasion.”
