Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that the W14’s “layout” will change as part of their concept change, which will be introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows have two more races to get through before they can wave goodbye to their current concept, with Azerbaijan and Miami set to be two Grand Prix’s of damage limitation.
There will be some hope that George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will at least be able to challenge for the final step on the podium, given how close the fight for second in the pecking order is.
What Mercedes will be capable of from Imola onwards, though, is a huge unknown, with Wolff not yet being prepared to “change” the Germans’ “goals” until they see how good their new concept is.
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“I don’t want to change the goals yet,” Wolff told the Italian edition of Motorsport.com. “I always want to think that we are here to fight for a world championship, even if it doesn’t seem realistic.
“We are only at the beginning, and I want to keep the team motivated to do the best possible job. There are many innovations in the pipeline, the layout of the car will change at Imola and we will see what this step entails.”
The hope will be that Mercedes’ upgrades can see them close the gap to Red Bull, given how superior the Austrians are over the entire field.
Red Bull’s dominance was demonstrated at the recent Australian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen having overtaken Hamilton with ease.
Hamilton did hold on to claim second, marking his and the team’s first podium of the 2023 F1 season.
Podiums aren’t what Mercedes are targeting, though, with the Silver Arrows wanting victories.
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To do that they’ll need to beat Red Bull, something Wolff knows isn’t going to be easy, especially given how close Aston Martin and Ferrari are.
“It’s undeniable that there is a team that is far ahead of all the others,” Wolff said of Red Bull. “Then there’s us, Aston Martin and Ferrari who are very close.
“To be able to play for a world championship again, we know that we have to beat two drivers who at the moment they are far away, but we also have another fight for the role of second place, let’s say that they are two objectives.”