Mercedes have encountered new problems and suffered from a lack of performance in 2023, as they did last season. Team boss Toto Wolff has promised that there will be a radical change in the W14’s design by midseason.
According to the Mercedes team principal, the Silver Arrows will be venturing in a new direction. The first step towards new results was supposed to be upgrades arriving in time for the 2023 Imola GP.
The highly anticipated upgrades have been designed to close the gap between the team and championship leaders Red Bull. However, Wolff remains doubtful of the promises, calling the upgrades only a quick fix to the W14’s woes.
Toto Wolff lowers expectations for Imola upgrades
Toto Wolff previously stated that there would be a major change in the W14’s concept. Paired with a host of personnel changes within Mercedes, the team improved their performance in last week’s Miami GP. The upcoming race in Imola will see the team introduce several new upgrades to their car.
Nevertheless, the Mercedes boss claims the upgrades alone are not enough to fix the car’s issues with handling and downforce. “We need to manage our expectations because we’re bringing an update package that’s going to consist of new suspension parts and bodywork,” he told SilverArrows.net.
Teamwork makes the dream work. 👏pic.twitter.com/SAyCcnf6m3
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 10, 2023
However, the Austrian claims it’s highly unlikely that Lewis Hamilton or George Russell will be able to beat the Red Bull cars to the finish line. He continued, “But I have never in my 15 years in F1 seen a silver bullet being introduced, where suddenly you unlock half-a-second performance. So I very much doubt that this is going to happen here.”
Major surgery is needed to fix W14, says Wolff
Toto Wolff shared that Mercedes will introduce a new floor, suspension, and bodywork for the upcoming race in Imola. The aim is to improve the W14’s downforce, which has been causing issues for the drivers.
However, the Austrian claims a “major surgery” will be needed to fix the “poisonous” car. He said, “What I’m looking forward to is that we take certain variables off the table where we believe we could have introduced something that we don’t understand in the car, and to go more to a stable platform. Then we should see where the baseline is and what we can do from there.”
Tom Cruise is part of Mercedes’ pit crew for the Miami Grand Prix 💪
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— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) May 7, 2023
The Mercedes boss also claims the upgrades will be handy as F1 approaches its first triple-header of the season. Wolff continued, “It’s good to have three races in a row to understand what’s happening and then it gives us maybe a little bit of a buffer later on to filter that and then take next decisions of what to do in terms of updates.”
Mercedes are 3rd in the constructor’s championship, with 96 points after the Miami GP. The team has scored only a single podium so far, a 2nd place secured by Lewis Hamilton during the Australian GP
