30/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Though Monaco wasn't the ideal litmus test for the W14's much-anticipated upgrade package, Toto Wolff believes progress is being made.
Of course, the true test comes this weekend at Barcelona, the track traditionally used for pre-season testing, indeed the track where Mercedes first realised just over a year ago that they may have gone the wrong way in terms of the rules overhaul.
The tight confines of the Principality are more about circuit specific upgrades, and though little was learned in terms of the W14's pace, Wolff says he is happy with the initial results.
"It's difficult because we were in the mix with Aston Martin and with Ferrari I would say," he says of last weekend, when Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and fifth. "But we really need to be careful, we need to go to Barcelona and collect more data.
"It's a new baseline," he added. "I don't expect us to be clearing Aston Martin and Ferrari there. It is more about understanding what does this car do now, and how to set it up, we are really good at grinding away.
"Even with the old package, which wasn't that great, or was terrible at the start of the season, we managed to win a race in Interlagos in a dominant way so we're going to get there," he insisted.
"I think we've been better in FP1 and FP2 than the rest of the weekend," he said of the season thus far, "the more the track grips in, the less performance we have. So it's really a lot of learning at the moment because everything is new. We've just got to collect the data and set the car up in a good way.
"Over the last two and a half, three years, we've had a really good race car and less so a qualifying car," he admitted. "So Sundays look more positive than it looks on qualifying days."