© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Toto Wolff says Mercedes “rebuilt the underbody, bodywork and front wheel suspension” of the W14, but adds it won’t be known in Monaco “whether what we’ve changed on the car will actually do anything”.
Mercedes was supposed to introduce its big upgrade for the W14 at Imola, but after the race was cancelled, it had to be pushed back to Monaco.
In a talk with the Österreich newspaper, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was asked about the impact of this change.
“Of course we would have liked to see how we are doing with the new car,” Wolff said.
“When you completely revamp a car, you want to know what the upgrade package can do.”
Asked if it is possible for Mercedes to be able to challenge Red Bull after the introduction, Toto said:
“Unfortunately, that won’t happen any time soon. But I’m hoping for a step forward.”
Wolff then explained what Mercedes changed on the W14.
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“We had to react to Red Bull’s superiority. Because we couldn’t find a solution to make the old car fast at the front or rear, we rebuilt the underbody, bodywork and front wheel suspension.
“There are no miracles in Formula 1. We won’t go half a second faster now, but hopefully we’ll have fewer problems and can continue to work with a competitive car. So far it has been too stiff and stubborn.”
Considering how the next race is in Monaco, a street circuit with the most unique characteristics in the F1 calendar, it is understood that some teams, like Ferrari, decided to delay the introduction of their upgrades for an additional week.
Despite this, Mercedes decided to introduce the upgrade in Monaco anyway.
“Monaco has nothing to do with a conventional racetrack,” Wolff explained.
“That’s why we won’t find out next weekend whether what we’ve changed on the car will actually do anything.
“So it remains exciting,” he concluded.
