Mercedes avoided ‘nasty surprises’ with Monaco F1 upgrades
A heavily-revised W14 - featuring a new sidepod design - made its first appearance in Monaco after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where the package was originally meant to be introduced, was cancelled due to deadly flooding in the region.
Monaco is not normally a track where teams would debut major upgrades and the circuit’s unique nature and layout provided an additional challenge for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in Sunday's grand prix, one place ahead of teammate George Russell.
Although Wolff conceded it was “impossible” to get a true read on the package in Monaco, he was pleased the team did not experience any unforeseen troubles.
“It is impossible to evaluate our upgrades on a circuit like Monaco, but at least we didn’t have any nasty surprises,” Wolff said.
The focus now turns to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, where Mercedes hope to properly evaluate their updated 2023 challenger at a more conventional track.
“Spain will provide an opportunity for us to establish a new baseline with the W14,” Wolff continued.
“It is a track that we are familiar with, although the removal of the final chicane will make it a much quicker lap.
“It comprises a wide range of corner types; that provides a good opportunity for us to learn about the new package.
“We don’t expect to see a step change in performance, but we’re hopeful it will provide a more stable platform.”
Mercedes technical director James Allison confirmed the team will continue their aggressive upgrade push by bringing new parts to Barcelona.
“We certainly will settle back and look at what the Monaco upgrade package has brought us at a more normal track, but we will also push on in parallel with a whole bunch more things,” Allison said in Mercedes’ post-Monaco debrief.
“So, there will be a little bit we’re bringing to Barcelona and many more things in the races that follow.
“We can’t afford just to do everything sequentially. Although there’s a sort of academic purity to that, it’s just too slow a way of going ahead, so the upgrades will keep coming.
“Hopefully a decent package to build upon what we put on the track in in Monaco, and then we just step forward from here up to the summer break and beyond.”
