Toto Wolff has finally delivered some good news to Mercedes fans, insisting that they are “making really big steps” in their development of the W14 which will lead to race wins.
George Russell was able to claim third-place on the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix starting grid but Lewis Hamilton is a lowly seventh, and gave a glum response about his inability to coax performance out of his 2023 machinery.
But, after Wolff promised the entire concept of the W14 must be reconsidered, he has now given details of how the car is set to be majorly improved.
“We’re making really big steps at the moment with our research and development, with our understanding in the wind tunnel,” he said.
He emphasised: “That is really big steps!”
“We just needed to have the confirmation in Bahrain that we got it wrong, now we have that. And that’s why I would never write off anything.
“Is it realistic after today’s performance [in Saudi Arabia qualifying] that we can talk about the world championship? No, it’s not, you’re a fool if you think that way.
“Equally, it’s motor racing. You must never give up and if we continue to do the big steps that we’ve already done in the last 10 days, then I think we’ll come to a stage where we’re really able to race for wins.”
He explained about the W14’s impending advancements: “Big steps, in relative performance to where we are even now.
“The kind of gains that are coming in our R&D and then in aero are much bigger than we’ve had over a long time.
“We’ve unlocked some potential because we simply look at things from different angles now.
“We have a different perspective because of our learnings of the Bahrain test and the Bahrain race.
“So there was no step back. On the contrary, it was immediately two steps forward.”
Wolff previously confirmed to Sky that Mercedes had settled on “one design philosophy” after a tense meeting post-Bahrain.
“I think that the car is going to look very different in five, six or seven races based on the decisions that we have taken and the development direction that we have embarked on,” he claimed.
Keyword: Toto Wolff reveals that Mercedes have made “big steps” and “unlocked potential” of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s struggling W14