F1 News: Charles Leclerc prepares for 2023 Mercedes title battle

Leclerc expects Mercedes to fight for the title.

Charles Leclerc thinks that Mercedes will return to the Championship battle next season after making notable improvements throughout 2022. 

Mercedes struggled significantly at the start of Formula 1's new regulations, constantly tinkering with their set-up and upgrade packages to extract more performance. 

Whilst the Australian Grand Prix was an early-year example of the W13's potential to consistently achieve podiums, race wins were still beyond the German squad. 

Although Red Bull and Ferrari were still the best packages at the end of 2022, Mercedes made significant progress and closed the gap considerably. 

The winter break will be a crucial period for the top three teams to consolidate and improve upon their findings from last season and transfer them into their 2023 packages.

As quoted by motorsport-total, Leclerc discussed his expectations for next year:

"I think Mercedes will be in the fight. Another team? [outside the top three]. I haven't seen any signs yet, that suggest another team will be in the top 3.

"But Mercedes will definitely be there with a very strong car next year. 

"We saw how much they improved from the first race to the last.

"I think they understood what they were doing wrong, and that's usually a sign that things are going to be better. So next year, it will hopefully be a three-team fight."

It would be unwise to write off Mercedes as contenders for next season, considering their spell of dominance in Formula 1 over the last decade. 

However, Ferrari has a solid foundation to build upon heading into 2023, and there will be few acceptable excuses for failure to compete at the front. 

Mercedes were within touching distance of Ferrari in the 2022 standing despite a considerably worse package, so the Maranello squad must address their weaknesses in order to compete with Mercedes head-to-head.