Mercedes will be considering whether “some people need to be moved around” after making a disappointing start to the 2023 F1 season, according to Nico Rosberg.
Team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed Mercedes will abandon their flawed car concept after the decision to initially stick with the same design philosophy as last year failed to bring the expected improvements at the start of 2023.
Mercedes have lost several figures who were key to their unbeaten streak of success from 2014-2020 in recent years, with the likes of former engine guru Andy Cowell and ex-technical director James Allison both stepping back from their roles, before strategy head James Vowles departed for Williams ahead of this campaign.
The eight-time constructors’ champions have also seen a number of engineers from their High Performance Powertrains (HPP) division poached by rivals including Red Bull.
Asked if he feels we are seeing the end of the Mercedes dynasty in F1, the Sky Sports pundit Rosberg said: “I’m not sure, because one of Toto’s strengths was always to do succession planning.
“And if we do look at all the key positions now, it’s all the next generation now running the team, with Mike Elliott, for example, taking over as technical director.
“He was the guy doing our aerodynamics when I was driving there. He’s absolutely brilliant. So the talent that is there is still like second-to-none and that makes it so difficult.
“It’s a big challenge to now decide, is there maybe an issue and some people need to be moved around or something. It’s just really, really difficult.”
Rosberg believes his former team faces a huge challenge to return to winning ways in F1.
“It’s such a difficult situation for them,” Rosberg said.
“They are so used to having great success, winning eight championships in a row, and now to be in such a long period of difficulty and also not making progress, on the contrary, struggling more actually.
“Big changes require a step backwards first and then hopefully, and you are not even sure, hopefully have much more potential and do a bigger step forward to be able to able to fight for wins and championships at some point in the future.
“But that’s not going to be tomorrow.”
Despite Lewis Hamilton’s future being the subject of intense speculation amid Mercedes’ continued struggles, Rosberg reckons his former teammate remains as motivated as ever.
“I think with Lewis and his frame of mind at the moment, you can see him on the radio always picking up the team and pushing them. That’s been great to see and surely George does the same,” he said.
“From what I can I see Lewis is super motivated still. Let’s also remember Lewis has George Russell next to him, who is really on a par with him and wants to beat him, so that’s a big driver.”
Keyword: Nico Rosberg questions if ‘some people need to be moved around’ within the Mercedes F1 team