Is Mercedes going to be a threat to win immediately in 2023?
That’s one of the biggest questions in Formula 1 ahead of the upcoming season that begins on Sunday with the Bahrain Grand Prix (10 a.m. ET, ESPN). The dominant team of the 2010s was off the mark from the start in 2022 thanks to the radical new car rule changes for the season. Mercedes wasn’t a factor to win for most of the season before George Russell got the team’s only win of the season in Brazil in November.
Russell was fourth in the standings a season ago and Lewis Hamilton was sixth.