Mercedes upgrades: Toto Wolff shares his observations on new W14

Declaring that Mercedes’ upgraded W14 debut in Monaco was “not worse” than the car was before, Toto Wolff was happy with what he saw in Friday’s practices for the Monte Carlo street race.

Having promised radical changes after their initial specification of the W14 failed to live up to expectations with Mercedes 50s off the pace at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, the Brackley squad debuted a heavily revised version of the car in Monaco.

Sporting new sidepods, Mercedes having scrapped the zero-pod philosophy in favour of bulging sidepods, a new front suspension and a new floor, Lewis Hamilton finished Friday’s practice sessions in sixth place where he was just under half a second off the pace with George Russell a further three-tenths back.

Wolff, Mercedes motorsport boss, says that was a “good sign”.

“At least the upgraded car is not worse than the car was before. That’s a good sign for Monaco. For once, the car didn’t do anything we don’t like,” he told Sky Deutschland.

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Having previously dealt with an unpredictable car that suffered with a lack of front end grip, the Austrian admitted to Motorsport.com that “it’s difficult with Monaco, really difficult to judge” the true performance difference.

“But at least we haven’t seen any behaviour of the car that would have been deemed as really negative.”

Stating that he is “massively” proud of Mercedes’ design team and what they have produced, the team boss added: “You see the whole bodywork is different, front suspension, the floor is different.

“A mega job of everybody in Brackley to have delivered that, and now this is our new baseline and we have to work from here.

“I’ve never heard a driver saying in Monaco that feels good!

“I think it’s always on the knife’s edge. You’ve seen that with [Carlos] Sainz. And therefore not lots of great praise, but definitely going in the right direction.”

With just seven tenths between pace-setter Max Verstappen and George Russell in 12th place, Wolff is predicting a closely-contested qualifying session.

“In the end it’s all going to be within two, three tenths,” he said.

“It’s difficult with Monaco, really difficult to judge,” Wolff told Motorsport.com when asked about the upgrades.

“But at least we haven’t seen any behaviour of the car that would have been deemed as really negative.”

He, however, concedes Red Bull’s Verstappen is once again the one to beat.

“Max was in his own class on the long run.,” said Wolff. “I think we’re pretty close together on a single lap, at least today, but in the long run you see a car that has performance and has no degradation. They’ve done a good job.”