The four week break between the Australian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix will allow all the teams to carry out vital updates to their cars, none more so than Mercedes.

Though the German team took a significant step forward in Melbourne, it is the first to admit that all is not what it seems, other than Charles Leclerc spinning off on the first lap, the W14 is no match for the Aston Martin, far less the Red Bull.

While seemingly ruling out a B-car, Toto Wolff has admitted that the team is returning to the drawing board and having finally realised that its zero-sidepod concept was the wrong way to go is likely to follow the example of the pace-setters.

However, comments made by Lewis Hamilton in Saudi Arabia, when he said he didn't feel "connected" to the car, mean that it is not only the W14's aerodynamics that need an overhaul.

"The car's obviously got performance," said Hamilton at the time. "I just don't feel connected to it. No matter what I do, no matter what I change, I can't get confidence in it. I'm just at a bit of a loss with it.

"George did a great job," he added, "he was able to get the car in a different place than me. I just struggled to extract the performance from the car.

"It's mostly me," he admitted. "A little bit in the high-speed the car is a little bit unstable, my set-up. It definitely feels like I just couldn't get any more out of the car, but I keep trying."

"We are working as hard as we can in the wind tunnel to find more downforce," confirms chief technical officer, James Allison in the latest video debrief from the German team. "We will be working as hard as we can in the drawing office to convert the things that the wind tunnel found a few weeks ago into performance that we deliver to the track.

"We will be working in the drawing office also to bring some mechanical parts to the car," he continues, "some different suspension components that we think will help the underlying balance of the car and make it a more driveable thing, making it something that the drivers have more confidence to push right to the limits.

"And we will be working on the normal sort of simulation loop and routine that allow us to prepare for the race weekends that are coming up, making sure that we land the car in the right place when we get to the race."

Referring to the forthcoming Sprint weekend in Abu Dhabi, which will see just one practice session, Allison admits that simulator work in finding the correct set-up baseline will be vital.

"Sprint races really reward the teams that can land there with a starting set-up that is pretty on the money and ready to go in qualifying, because the time is really compressed in a sprint race weekend.

"Those are the things we will be working on and hopefully we work well and strong and have a good showing when we show up in Baku in just a few weeks' time."

Referring to Melbourne, he smiles and says: "Overall, a sense of quiet satisfaction that we have moved the car forward that, from a performance point of view, we probably got as much as it is able to give right now.

"That happiness of course is tempered by the disappointment that we only got one car to the flag," he admits, "and that George was not able to show what he was capable of in the car on race day, having performed very strongly up to that point in the weekend.

"We didn't have huge breakthroughs, but we moved forward a little bit," he adds. "We put a small amount on the leaders Red Bull, and we are starting to get on terms with, and maybe just nose a whisker in front of, the Ferraris and the Aston Martins."

However, asked if the team can repeat it Melbourne form at Baku and Imola, he admits: "That is a very difficult question to answer. They are very different tracks. Where Melbourne had been front-limited, putting more strain on the front axle, probably Baku will be rear-limited. It's a very different set of circumstances.

"I think we got some reasons to think that as we keep working on our car, we will be able to make the hop from Melbourne to the different challenge of Baku and still have a good showing, but it will be only when we get there and put the car on the road that we will know that for sure."