Mercedes unveil W14 for new F1 season as ex-Hamilton request returns
Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November
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Mercedes have returned to their black design for the 2023 season in a stunning overhaul of their 2022 livery. The Silver Arrows returned to their title winning layout from 2020 while also giving a nod to Lewis Hamilton’s continuing campaign against racism.
Hamilton recently admitted he was involved in pushing for the changes ahead of the 2020 season. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also revealed one of the reasons behind the change was a bid to save weight.
The Silver Arrows secured its famous name after engineers decided against painting the car to save weight, something which Wolff claims inspired the team in 2023. He commented: “It looks good and I’m also happy that we have gone back to the black livery.
“Is she going to be as fast as she looks, I hope so. There is a lot of excitement in getting the car finally on the road.” He added: “We came back and we really tried to get the weight off the car in every single bit.
“Therefore, we committed to gaining the grams by leaving the car matte carbon. History repeats itself just in this case it’s a modern material, carbon and not aluminium. Also on top of that we know why we had a black car two years ago and it just came together.”
Hamilton recently told the Jay Shetty podcast the reasons behind the change to back in 2020. He explained: “I said to them like the car’s been silver forever, it;s always been the SIlver Arrows.
“I said to them ‘imagine if we changed the car to black, us tuning up and arriving, it’s how you show up. Imagine the message we could send’, we had the black car for the whole year.”
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Last season, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff stressed the DNA of the car would change after a difficult year. The Austrian hinted there would be lots of work underneath the car but teased the bodywork may not be much different.
George Russell has previously admitted the Silver Arrows were holding “important meetings” and simulator sessions at the end of last year as they helped develop their 2023 package. The German manufacturer finally found their old mojo by the end of the season after bringing new upgrades to the United States.
Hamilton challenged Verstappen for wins in Austin and Mexico City and could have come out on top. Russell picked up the team’s only win of the year in Brazil in a demonstration that Mercedes may have returned to form.
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