Mercedes News: Toto Wolff Hopeful For W14 - "Very Different Underneath"
The Mercedes Formula One team, led by team principal Toto Wolff, has been hard at work on their highly anticipated W14 car for the 2023 season. The W13, which the team raced with in 2022, struggled with numerous issues throughout the season, including major porpoising problems.
Wolff spoke with PlanetF1.com about the new car, assuring fans that although it may look similar to the W13, it is very different underneath.
"It's full of surprises. The last time I saw it I thought 'oh this looks the same [as the W13]', but here's hoping it's not the same. I'm pretty much like you, I go into the wind tunnel and it looks like this year's car but they say to me it's very different underneath.
"It's about the airflow, it's about the weight distribution, it's about the aero map."
Reflecting on the issues the team encountered throughout the 2022 season, Wolff explained that they kept finding one problem after another.
"I think we have a much better understanding of what the problems were. We've been peeling only a layer of the onion, layers of discovering more issues and more problems, but I think we've come to the point that we understand pretty well why the car is not performing.
"The correlation at least is there for some tracks so it's all in the fine detail of how can we make the car work out aerodynamically, how can we improve the ride and make it more fun?"
It is clear that the Mercedes team has learned a lot from their struggles in the previous season and is determined to come back stronger with the W14. Wolff stated that the team's main focus is to provide a stable platform for the drivers and then work on developing the car from there.
"I think if we're able to solve that over the winter, at least we can provide a stable platform to the drivers and we can develop it from there."
Overall, the Mercedes team is optimistic about the future and the potential of the W14. While it may not look much different from the outside, it is full of improvements and surprises that are sure to make it a formidable competitor on the track.