© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Toto Wolff confirms the W14 that was shown at Mercedes’ car launch “is for a large part the car that we’re going to test and to race”.
Mercedes launched its 2023 car today, and while last year the German team didn’t reveal the true version of their car until the second pre-season test in Bahrain, this year team boss Toto Wolff says the car that was presented at the launch is the car that will be used in pre-season testing and the races.
“Last year we learned a tough lesson,” the Austrian said.
“We knew that we were going to bring an upgrade package for test number two that was worth a second and a half.
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“In a way, you’re then looking at the first test and thinking that’s not really relevant, because that’s not going to be the car.
“Then we put that on the track and it wasn’t performing at all as we expected.”
“This year we went the other way around, and what you’ve seen is for a large part the car that we’re going to test and to race.
“It’s fundamentally important to understand the platform and how the car behaves, rather than keeping some bits in the background, that may add a tenth or two on pure aero performance,” Wolff concluded.
