Toto Wolff suggests Mercedes timeline to FIGHT Red Bull after W14 revamp

Toto Wolff

Wolff suggests Mercedes timeline to FIGHT Red Bull after W14 revamp

Mercedes' 2023 challenger has been 'stubborn' according to the Silver Arrows' team principal

Joe Ellis

Sunday 21 May 2023 15:57 Updated: 16:17

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Mercedes will 'completely revamp' their W14 car with the new upgrades they are bringing to the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows have not made the forward steps they were looking for in 2023 and are now set to abandon their zero-pod concept.

Toto Wolff, the team principal, was hoping to get an idea of how the changes would work at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but that race was cancelled due to flooding in the Imola area and northern Italy.

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Even if the new parts work as Mercedes hope, Wolff does not expect to see Lewis Hamilton and George Russell fighting with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez anytime soon.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a titanic title battle in 2021

Wolff: We had to react to Red Bull

“Of course, we would have liked to see how we were doing with the new car," Wolff said to oe24. "When you completely revamp a car, you want to know what the upgrade package can do.

“Unfortunately, that (challenging Red Bull) won't happen any time soon. But I'm hoping for a step forward.

"We had to react to Red Bull's superiority. Because we couldn't find a solution to make the old car fast at the front or rear, we rebuilt the underbody, bodywork (e.g. side boxes, ed.) and front wheel suspension.

"There are no miracles in Formula 1. We won't go half a second faster now, but hopefully, we'll have fewer problems and can continue to work with a competitive car. So far it has been too stiff and stubborn."