Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that the Silver Arrows do still have big upgrades “coming” to the W14, despite the team having switched their focus to 2024.
The Germans are chasing their first win since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, with their next opportunity being next weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Whilst their performance last weekend at the Italian Grand Prix was disappointing, Mercedes can take confidence from the fact that they were strong in Zandvoort and at the Hungaroring, two venues which are more similar to the Marina Bay Circuit.
As a result, Wolff is hopeful that they “can get closer” to the superior Red Bull.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
“If we take a look at Zandvoort, we completely messed up with the rain, but with our pace, we were close to Verstappen and in the end, our result should have been better,” Wolff told Sky Germany.
“But maybe we can show in Singapore and the remaining races that we can do that. We will see if we can get closer to the Red Bulls.”
Despite having not win since Brazil last season, Mercedes are continuing to work in the right direction.
Introducing their new concept at the Monaco Grand Prix was a big positive for the Silver Arrows, who have made progress since scrapping their previous philosophy.
Wolff shared that the team can see in the data that they are “moving forward”, something which has come as a relief to the Brackley-based team.
“I think [the upgrade package introduced in Monaco] was important,” Wolff said.
“We were able to see in the wind tunnel that we gained a lot from the reset. We are still running after because if you make a reset, sometimes you lose downforce first of all but our data now shows us that we are moving forward.”
To continue moving forwards, Mercedes have more upgrades to come this season, some of which have already been produced.
READ: Zhou Guanyu reveals why Audi takeover is bad news for him
Interestingly, Wolff’s teased that the side have “another innovation” to introduce.
“The pieces are coming, they’ve already been produced or going to get produced. The wind tunnel has been closed for a while now for this year’s car. But we have things coming,” Wolff explained.
“[A big change in the car is] going to happen. In some things, we may be going to be more conventional, where we might have gone the wrong way before, for other things we will add what we learned. So there is going to be one or another innovation.”