The trial carried out by the head of the team where Lewis Hamilton is located after the results in the Monegasque country
In an unexpected twist, Toto Wolff, director of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, has offered an unsettling judgment on his team’s progress. He has called the W13’s performance at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix “horrible”, while this year he has described the W14 as “not good”. Despite the improvements introduced, it seems that the team has not yet achieved the expected results.
Mercedes introduced its new W14 model at the Monaco Grand Prix. The team decided to abandon the “zero-pod” concept in favor of bulkier sidepods, while also incorporating a new front suspension, cooling system and floor. Despite these innovations, the W14 did not live up to expectations of being the “silver bullet” that Wolff had previously claimed did not exist, nor did it allow the team to challenge for pole position or race victory.
A step forward, although still insufficient
Despite the limitations of the W14, there were signs of progress. During last year’s qualifying in Monaco, George Russell was within seven tenths of pole, while this year Lewis Hamilton was less than four tenths away. Hamilton finished the Grand Prix in fourth position and Russell in fifth, bringing the team within a single point of Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship.
This advance represents a significant step, but still It is not enough to achieve the team’s goals. Thus, it is important to understand the context in which Mercedes finds itself in its competition with Aston Martin and Ferrari. According to Wolff, although Mercedes has narrowed the gap, he still doesn’t expect them to overtake their competitors. “It’s difficult to assess because we were in the mix with Aston Martin and Ferrari,” he explained.
Although they saw progress when compared to last yearDirector of Mercedes warns that they should be cautious and continue to collect more data to establish a new baseline. In this way, Wolff emphasizes that the real challenge for the new W14 will be in “own circuits” such as Barcelona, where the car is expected to show its true capacity.
“Here, it’s mostly about drive and low-speed downforce,” he explained. “You don’t see that at many other circuits. So we’re off to more medium and high speed corners, proper race tracks. It should be good.” In any case, the key to progress is learning from experience and collect the necessary data.