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Former F1 driver David Coulthard feels Toto Wolff's criticism of the Mercedes W14 will not go easy on the design team. He stated that the team principal wants a major change in the iconic design of the under-competitive car.
After the regulation changes in 2022, Mercedes were the ones to keep a 'zero pod' concept in their W13, which was partly blamed for the loss the team incurred. However, the team decided to keep the same design for their W14 as well. As expected by many, the car failed to perform during the first race of the season in Bahrain.
Reacting to this, Toto Wolff, the team principal, revealed that the design of the car might have to change after this. While that sounds ideal, Coulthard feels it will be a blow to the team's design department. He believes the car hasn't had a chance to perform enough times to collect relevant data.
He said, as quoted by PlanetF1.com:
"I think it was brutal. This car has only been alive for six days, a few days of testing, three days here. I don’t know where he’s coming from with that. But yeah, they’ve got a completely different strategy with the sidepods. They clearly have to try and follow the pack now. But that is like a big kick in the whatnots for design team."
Mercedes looking forward to upgrades for better finish later in the season
Mercedes were expected to be much more competitive this time around than in the past season. However, that hasn't happened with their stock package, as was apparent after the Bahrain Grand Prix.
This makes it obvious that the team is more dependent on its upgrade package. After pre-season testing, it was clear that the W14 will not be as competitive as it is expected to be, but there were still high hopes ahead of the race.
Given Wolff's opinion on the design of the car, there will certainly be some major changes throughout the length of the season. This could include a change in the sidepod. It has also been speculated that an upgrade package at Imola is expected from the team.
Mercedes' finish this season in Bahrain was worse than last season. The conditions in 2022 were very different with both Red Bulls retiring from the race which gave Lewis Hamilton the third-place podium. However, Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin was much faster than both Mercedes drivers. This reveals that there is a lot of work remaining for the team.
