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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the Barcelona circuit will help improve the W13 and unlock more performance from it. The Austrian believes the car showed some potential in Miami in the practice sessions which has helped the team gain a better understanding of it.
Speaking in a team preview for the Spanish GP, Wolff said:
“During Friday practice, the car showed flashes of its true potential. We continued experimenting with set-up, fitted some new components and that’s provided us with answers and indications of which direction to go in. A huge amount of hard work has been going on in the factories to unpick the data from Miami and turn it into improvements for Barcelona.”
The Mercedes chief feels the W13 has shown some potential in Friday's practice in Miami. Wolff also revealed that there have been improvements brought to the car in Barcelona with the data retrieved from the last race.
Mercedes team principal positive about unlocking W13’s performance in Barcelona
According to Toto Wolff, Barcelona is a circuit they have tested the W13 on, which makes correlating the data easier. Consequently, the Mercedes team principal expects the car to improve next weekend and hopes for more performance to be unlocked.
Predicting improvements on the Spanish circuit, Wolff said:
“Having run there in winter testing, albeit with a car that has evolved a lot since then, it will be a good place to correlate the information we have on the current car and we are hopeful we will make another step forward. The track itself is a good all-rounder, so it really puts every aspect of the car to the test. It’s never been a great track for overtaking so it will be interesting to see how these new-shape 2022 F1 cars impact the on-track spectacle in Spain.”
Suggesting that they will improve at the next race weekend, the Austrian said:
“In basketball terms, we head to Barcelona at the end of the first quarter of the game. We know once we translate the learnings we’ve made into track performance, there is still a lot of the game left to play.”
The Mercedes team chief had also mentioned in the media call that the team will continue to stick with their current car design. Although their design philosophy has been difficult to work with, the Austrian suggested there could be a possibility of switching to the previous concept if the current one does not deliver. Wolff, however, believes that is a call to be made after the race in Barcelona.
