© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Former F1 driver Martin Brundle says the true effect of Mercedes’ upgrades won’t be known until the Spanish Grand Prix.
After Mercedes revealed its big upgrade package for the W14, Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle provided his initial thoughts.
“My concern is that it’s a complete concept that a car is built around,” Brundle said.
“That car is not going to win too many beauty parades – it’s got a touch of Frankenstein about it. But if they cross the line first they all look beautiful.
“The team are saying this will enable them to have a new reference point and move forward from there, instead of being halfway up a ladder that appears to be going nowhere as we saw in 2022 and so far in 2023.
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“They’re building another ladder that might enable them to climb higher.
“They had a chance through the winter [to change concept]. They didn’t want to give up on that [zero-sidepod] concept but finally, they’ve had to accept that it has limited upside, the ‘zero-pod’ design, compared to everybody else. They probably should’ve done this in the close season.
“I don’t think we’ll know until we get to Barcelona next week, which is the toughest circuit in the world for a chassis and its aerodynamics, we’ll find out there where Mercedes are at.
“They’re not really saying we’ve sorted this, they’re saying they’ve gone to a different place and we think it’s a better place to start from to gain some speed and catch Red Bull,” the Briton concluded.
