Mercedes set new 2023 goal as Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin under threat

Mercedes bosses have set an ambitious target for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to meet in the 2023 season despite their early struggles. The Silver Arrows are hopeful the team can secure second in the Constructors’ Championship, overthrowing Aston Martin.

The German marque lies just one point behind the British squad even though Fernando Alonso has picked up five podiums.

Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, said: “We’re in a good fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship and while that’s not our goal, it looks like we’re going to be able to have some fun racing with Ferrari and Aston Martin as we work on closing that gap to Red Bull.”

Shovlin’s comment refers to the fact their primary goal each season is to win the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship – though both of those are incredibly unlikely already this year.

The shorter gap is partly due to the performances of Lance Stroll who has secured just 27 points to Alonso’s 93. The Canadian has picked up points in just three races this season but hasn’t scored in the last two events.

This is helping Mercedes close the gap with both drivers almost always in the top 10. Mercedes’ only non-points-scoring finish was Russell’s mechanical retirement at the Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes set a similar goal towards the end of last season but were unable to overthrow Ferrari. They had closed in on the Scuderia after a late surge in pace with Russell even taking victory in Sao Paulo.

But, they ran out of race with the Italian marque just holding on to the runners-up spot. Mercedes introduced a series of upgrades in Monaco in a desperate bid to close the gap to Red Bull.

Aerodynamic tweaks were made including the fitting of a new floor and front suspension system. The team’s controversial ‘zero pod’ style was also dropped for a more conventional sidepod system.

Team boss Toto Wolff said the team had ambitions of achieving better performance with the new parts but stressed they don’t want to get carried away. He said: “We brought a big package to this race, and it has performed well. We have seen some positives in Monaco, which we know is not a representative circuit, and it will be next week in Barcelona when we get a more precise idea of competitiveness.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, and I think we’re all looking forward to learning more about the car, and to seeing if we’ve made a step in performance against our immediate competitors.”