Toto Wolff has indicated Mercedes will soon switch its development focus to its 2024 car after becoming frustrated by the gnawing unpredictability of the W14 he has described as “diva 2.0”.
Six years ago, Wolff said the team’s 2017 W08 was “a bit of a diva” given the fluctuations in its performance mirrored by results after three years of total domination following the introduction of the turbo-hybrid power unit in 2014.
This year’s W14 started life as an evolution of a car that won a race towards the end of last year as Mercedes retained faith in its development over the winter, only to immediately recognise in the season-opening race in Bahrain its plan was flawed.
The result was an alternative design approach that was unveiled in Monaco and bore fruit in the Spanish and Canadian Grands Prix but has since failed to deliver to the extent hoped in Austria and in the weekend’s British Grand Prix, despite possessing a new front wing for the latter event.
“Overall, the car was not where we’ve seen it at Silverstone the last years, a track where we have been really dominant and strong,” said Wolff.
Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could only qualify sixth and seventh before going on to take the chequered flag in fifth and a face-saving third respectively behind a sixth successive victory from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
“The high speed was not good at all compared to our direct competitors, and in qualifying, we were also struggling with traction on the exits, so overall, the car remains a handful,” added Wolff.
Wolff believed the race at Silverstone represented Mercedes’ “best shot” of a victory this season, an opinion he has been forced to revise given the vagaries of the W14.
“Maybe there’s another track where we have the best shot because the characteristics of the car have changed,” he assessed.
“I have always believed we can beat Max. We have a good group of people, the best drivers, and we just have to give them a car that is more predictable and not the diva 2.0 – and much more complicated than the first one.”
With Mercedes’ development route now mapped out for the remainder of the year, and with the budget already allocated to that, Wolff finds it “kind of difficult to believe we have upgrades in there that will fundamentally change the car”.
With that in mind, as to whether he now has to start looking more towards next year, he said: “I think pretty soon. We have no choice.
“P2, P3 (in the championship), fundamentally doesn’t impact me and the team. It’s about coming back and being able to win a world championship, and in that respect, that’s not going to happen this year.
“So we need to set our eyes on to next year, and with all the races to come, to learn, develop and make sure that we can carry that forward into next year.
“But having said that, the regulations are the same so you’re not learning nothing by continuing with this car. It’s a balance that we need to strike right.”
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