F1: It was likely the loss of Aldo Costa, not cost cap that caused Mercedes to blow it

When Mercedes lost their chief designer Aldo Costa who moved back to Italy and later took a role at Dallara, they stopped being the dominant car in F1.

They were not as dominant in 2021 and in 2022 they were not even 2nd best. In fact, the 2022 car was so bad it would bounce down the straights like a Jack Hammer, pounding the drivers silly in the cockpit.

And Toto Wolff admits it was not the new F1 cost cap to blame for the W13 issues. This is because either way, the issues needed to be solved gradually and it was a long process.

Talking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Toto Wolff said, “We’re not lacking the capability, or we weren’t lacking any of the tools, nor time.”

“It was more that we needed to peel off layer by layer in order to get to the ground of the problem. So it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Explained Toto Wolff

Mercedes had thought that they had solved all their problems when they brought in their first major upgrade package to the Spanish Grand Prix. However, the problems returned during the end of the season and a small amount of porpoising was seen during the Abu Dhabi GP.

Wolff explained that Mercedes hasn’t really solved all their issues, but they will be in a much better place by the time 2023 comes. He explained that the team are changing the architecture of the car and the car for the 2023 season would be much better…..or so he hopes.