The Mercedes F1 team immediately realized after the opening race in Bahrain that they needed serious modifications to their newly constructed W14 car. The car with zero side pod concept was not helping the team at all. After a terrible 2022 season, fans thought that Mercedes would make a strong comeback after all the suffering. However, the car was just not right.
Albeit, W14 is better than W13 because there is a lack of bouncing due to porpoising issues. However, the new car had a lot of problems with the balance, rear downforce, and cockpit position. So, to do what every fan was expecting from the team, Mercedes was ready to implement new upgrades in Imola, Italy. But the terrible flood in Imola messed up their plans. As a result, Mercedes reluctantly had to test the modifications in Monaco, despite Barcelona GP in Spain would be a much better option. But looks like the new W14 upgrades have caught the media’s attention pretty well.
Sky Sports F1 Reporters Analyzes The W14 Car After New Upgrades
In Monaco, Sky Sports F1 reporters Ted Kravitz and Anthony Davidson dug a little deeper into the new promising upgrades of the Mercedes W14 car. Mr. Davidson thought that the Silver Arrows made the right decision as they did not start fresh in mid-season but changed their paths. Ted Kravitz also feels that “Mercedes have got the cars as per the ground effect rules now. They did not have that at the beginning of the season.” He added that the car has a channel on the left side pod that helps the air to go down.
It helps to tidy up the back of the car. On top of that, the huge side pods are the most prominent things on the car. It agrees with the rest of the field’s philosophy. Moreover, Anthony Davidson acknowledged that the data from the wind tunnel suggests the new huge side pods do make the car go faster. However, they stick out a little bit more, perhaps due to a weaker power unit previously. Apparently, Mercedes had a very slow car on the straight line, plus it had no side pods. It was high time that they changed their zero-side pod concept.
Mercedes Team Feels Much Better With New Upgrades After Monaco Race
The street circuit of Monaco did not provide much help in implementing new upgrades. But the team could not hold any longer as they were losing precious time. Hence, in Monaco GP, a new version of W14 was visible to everybody. Apparently, it did not help the team get to a podium finish. However, Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, and George Russell had a P5 finish. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won yet another race, his fourth race win this season. But it was not a disappointing race for Mercedes camp either.
After the race, Lewis Hamilton mentioned that the car was feeling good even though it was not a place to try new upgrades. The seven-time champion added that he could definitely feel improvements, and the team needs to build on it from here onwards. After the Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes has come very close to Aston Martin, as they are only a point behind them in the constructors championship. But the major concern is the growing gap between them and Red Bull. The Milton Keynes team is 130 points ahead of Mercedes.