SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom (PSF) — The “Silver Arrows” are the ninth team to reveal their challenger for the 2023 Formula One season, named the W14. This season’s car will be driven by the returning British duo of seven-time World Drivers’ Championship winner Lewis Hamilton alongside the young George Russell who captured his first race win in Formula One last season in his first year with the Mercedes team. The W14 will look to be a more well-rounded and consistent car that will be competitive from Round 1 at Bahrain and on. Last year’s W13 started off slow and its performance was limited to a third place finish at best. As the season went on, Mercedes made great improvements while Ferrari, who were ahead of Mercedes in performance, did not make the same gains which allowed Mercedes to fight at the top once again.

Mercedes have taken the black carbon fiber fad that has been featured on most cars revealed so far to a whole new level. The car is one big carbon fiber machine with a few stickers and a couple brushes of paint on it. The carbon fiber look is in order to drop weight and to make sure the car is as fast as it can be. The black Mercedes car makes it return after a one year hiatus as the W13 rocked a silver paint job.

I can only think of two words when looking at this year’s W14: genius and beautiful. It is genius because Mercedes is able to cut back on weight making their car faster while at the same time not losing its identity since the team has donned the black color and have been successful in it (Drivers’/Constructors’ title wins in black W11 and Constructors’ title win in black W12). It is beautiful because its black look gives a nostalgic feel to when Mercedes were a winning team in 2021, yet it gives off a revitalized look that gives a nod to the past while aiming for the future. The faded Mercedes arrows were always something I liked about the liveries that the team has produced throughout the years but it just looks especially good on the matte black of the carbon fiber car.

Mercedes have once again made waves throughout the F1 world with their bold design choices for the W14. The nose of the front wing is much shorter than last year and the accompanying endplates are also closer to the nose. They are also bringing back the “zeropods” concept that they briefly ran last year that almost entirely eliminates the appearance of the side pods. This look was well talked about last season and Mercedes’ decision bring it back for this season shows they have more confidence in it this year. Other new features on the car include an updated shark fin and floor as well as a single cooling outlet on the side of the car instead of the two outlets the team ran with last year.

Despite Mercedes continuously being in races and fighting for good points last season, P3 in the Constructors along with a P4 and P6 for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively, it felt like a fall from grace for the team that used to dominate most races. With the team reverting to the black and committing to performance with the carbon fiber look, it shows that they certainly are not satisfied with last season and not just hope, but expect to return to the top for this upcoming season. I can’t blame them, I believe they will be there too.