Undoubtedly, Mercedes has been through a lot all this time. It is a wonder how a team that has been ruling for seven years can all of a sudden lose its touch. It is safe to say the purple patch of Mercedes is over. They really need to get their car fixed. It is a hazard for quality drivers like Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. They can do so much better with other cars that are faster and more balanced. The W14 car might be better than its predecessor, but that does not make it a championship-winning car.
This year, Mercedes is nowhere near title contention. The German team knows that Red Bull is far ahead of them. But at present, they are focusing on beating Ferrari and Aston Martin. But Toto Wolff and the company know that they need to change the concept of the W14, which is a repetition of the same idea of W13. It is a flawed concept that cost them the last season, and they are on the verge of losing in on another season.
Aston Martin’s Design Must Inspire Mercedes
The bigger reason for the frustration of Mercedes’ boss is that their customer team Aston Martin is getting better results using their products. Now, the best thing the Silver Arrows can do at the moment is to build a car based on Aston Martin’s car. After all, they are using Mercedes’ rear, gearbox, and whatnot to get great results. Hence, the question is, why can’t Mercedes? Clearly, the cost cap era has not given the Silver Arrows a chance to make significant changes to the car. But they did improve a lot in the latter half of the last season. If Mercedes brings in new changes adding the Aston Martin concept, it can create a big challenge for the top teams, even Red Bull.
However, for now, the target is to get ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin. The changes they made to W14 to prevent the porpoising issues faced in the W13 car have not been entirely successful. In the last Grand Prix in Australia, it was visible that Mercedes still faced a bit of porpoising issues. Mercedes is still hanging in the driver’s championship, with Lewis Hamilton holding the 4th place for now. Only time will tell if the Imola modifications make any significant difference to the car and the luck of Mercedes this season.
How Big Difference Will The Imola Modifications Make?
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff mentioned that when they get back to Europe, new changes await in Imola. But will that get too late? And is the new design of the W14 car going to be a copy of Red Bull? The Silver Arrows are indeed giving up on the concept of zero-side pods.
Then that must be a push in the right direction as that concept has got a lot of limitations. It is clear after the first three races of the season. Albeit the team believes in a “no blame culture.” It is hard for Wolff not to give Mike Elliot and the engineering team a bit of an ultimatum after back-to-back failures.
