Toto Wolff declared yesterday's Bahrain Grand Prix "one of our worst days in racing" and that the previous benchmark team in Formula One had effectively lost a year in development.
It started on Friday, with Lewis Hamilton warning his team had gone down the wrong path. After qualifying, Wolff took that a step further, saying it was time to start again.
In what must be a first for a team of this magnitude, one grand prix in, they were already waving the white flag, with George Russell going even further to say Red Bull already had the championship sewn up.
This all felt strangely familiar to the situation here in Bahrain a year ago, when it was clear Mercedes had gone awry with their interpretation of the regulations shake-up. The car was porpoising, but there was a belief within the team's hierarchy that there was a quick car amid it all when they got to grips with things.
And so it proved - albeit late in the season when Russell won the Brazilian Grand Prix.
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Denne historien er fra March 06, 2023-utgaven av Evening Standard.
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