"We want to be challenging for championships"- Mercedes set priorities ahead of 2023 F1 season

Mercedes have set their sight on fighting for the title next season. The team’s technical director Mike Elliott has said that the goal would be to return to championship contention.

Mercedes have been dominant in F1 in the V6 turbo hybrid era. They gave won eight constructors championships but are not in contention this season, as they're yet to win a single race. They trail leaders Red Bull (545) by 174 points.

Red Bull and Ferrari fighting it out for the title this season, with the former having a 139-point lead.

Talking about the goals for the rest of the season, the Mercedes technical director said that the focus would be on winning at least a race this season and beat Ferrarri to P2. He also said that Mercedes would like to challenge for the title next season. Elliott said:

“We want to try and fight Ferrari for that P2 position, we want to try and win a race this season or multiple races ideally but most of all we want to get ourselves back on track so we are fighting properly for a Championship next year."

He continued:

"That’s not any disrespect to our opposition, we’ve got fantastic opposition but that’s what we really need to do because we want to be back there, we want to be challenging for championships because that’s what we are about.”

Mercedes trail Ferrari by 35 points.

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A better understanding from the simulator work is a big positive - Mercedes

Mercedes struggled earlier this season with a lack of correlation of data from the simulator and the track. That was considered one of the reasons behind the car not working as well as it was expected to early in the season.

According to Elliot, that's one of the positives for the team now, as Mercedes have a better understanding of the simulator work and what happens on the track. He said:

“I think having three races in a month is always a pretty tough ask, particularly for the race team but also for the team in the factory. I think we’ve had some good races, and we’ve had some not so good races, but I think what’s really encouraging for me is that the understanding that is coming from the simulation work we do."

He continued:

"The understanding that is coming from the wind tunnel is allowing us to work out why our performance is going up and down, what we need to do to get back into the fight right at the front and what we need to do over the winter."

Eliiott added:

"I think that are the key things. What we need to do over the next six races of the season is we just need to do what we always do which is race as best we can.”

Mercedes has come close to winning a race this season. It will be interesting to see if George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are able to pull a win off.