But those changes take time to turn into a faster solution in the wind tunnel - you can't do them overnight. There is quite a lot of development that you've got to do around any sort of big change in geometry in that area. In the first stint Russell was told by his engineer “target plus eight” – indicating they wanted him to run eight laps more on the soft tyre than originally planned. That is 15% of the total race distance, so represents a large change to expectation. We just need to define what it is,” Wolff said. “Restarts are mega, but when they come as a surprise and you can’t really understand then maybe not so much. I am generally in favour of making great entertainment, but the rulebook of the sport is the key DNA so let us define together what is a safety car, what is a VSC and what is a red flag.”

With Mercedes having made a poor start to the season, Sky F1's Naomi Schiff contemplates whether Hamilton will ever win a record eighth world title The shift in the country’s diplomatic approach has been perhaps more seismic. Putin’s war has prompted the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to effectively break with the decades-long approach of Wandel durch Handel: the belief that social and political change in other countries can be brought about by trade.The electricity consumption was determined on the basis of Regulation 2017/1151/EU according to WLTP. Nonetheless, Wolff said that in each case it was not clear why the race had been stopped and he echoed Russell’s opinion that alternatives were available. “Both red flags we didn’t see coming,” he said. “Restarts are a great entertainment factor, but we need to understand going forward when a red flag is being put out and when it is a safety car or a VSC. For those incidents you could have applied either. They were well off the pace as Red Bull and Ferrari battled for wins throughout the first half of the season and were clearly out of championship contention long before the campaign reached its halfway point. Formula One is so successful because it is sport and we follow the rulebook and that gives great entertainment, as long as it is clear how it is being interpreted. Whether you call a VSC or a safety car or you red‑flag it, as long as we understand in terms of us being able to plan and in having the same rules for everyone, then that is OK.”

Mercedes have opted to celebrate by running a ‘Pride Star’ emblem on both their W13 challenger and Hamilton and George Russell’s helmets for the next three Grands Prix, as part of their wider ‘Accelerate 25’ programme, with Hamilton – who earlier this week wished a “Happy Pride” to his social media followers – revealing what the move meant to him. Olaf Scholz has had to break with Germany’s policy of ‘change through trade’. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Damon Hill believes Mercedes may have got their 2023 concept fundamentally wrong, and will struggle to close the gap on Red Bull this season It is a very proud moment for us to welcome INEOS to Mercedes in their new capacity as principal partner. The company's ambition, dynamism and entrepreneurial flair are a perfect fit for the spirit of Mercedes-AMG Petronas,” he said. Of course, we are looking at where we can improve the car, we are looking for potential to develop, and you will see visible changes coming on the car over the next few races."Teams were required to submit a final design of their power units before the start of the 2022 season, with changes only allowed to be made to improve reliability or safety. Germany’s businesses and households had grown accustomed to plentiful Russian gas and oil for many years. Russia accounted for more than half of the country’s natural gas supply in 2020.

Any new car concept is most likely going to be something arriving for 2024, so the question is how soon does Mercedes switch off work on the current car?

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However, after a frustrating weekend his post-race claims that the team "didn't listen" to him regarding concerns over the W14, reignited speculation as to whether he could consider what once seemed an unthinkable move away from Mercedes. China is by far Mercedes’s biggest market: it sold nearly 223,000 vehicles there in the third quarter of this year, representing 42% of its total sales in the period. Now Germany is working out how to recalibrate relations with Beijing. The failure of diplomatic policy towards Moscow has also prompted much soul-searching in Germany over its choice of business partners, with questions now being raised over the wisdom of its reliance on China. In addition, Mercedes lost the head of their mechanical engineering division, Ben Hodgkinson, to Red Bull last year as their rivals went on an aggressive recruitment drive for their new powertrains division, which saw around 15 other employees make the move.