F1 News: "Concern" Over Mercedes W14 Upgrades As Monaco GP Begins

Former Formula 1 driver and current Sky F1 pundit, Martin Brundle, has expressed his reservations about the newly unveiled upgraded Mercedes W14 which has been making headlines ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. The highly anticipated introduction of the upgraded car was delayed by one week due to the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Now, the refreshed W14 has emerged from beneath the covers, showcasing notable changes in its appearance, but Brundle isn't overly taken with the "Frankenstein" design.

One of the most striking alterations is the shift away from the zero-pod concept, opting for a more traditional concept with Aston Martin-like sidepods either side of its cockpit. Mercedes acknowledged the mistake of sticking with their initial concept after the Bahrain season opener and decided to make a significant change. This adjustment marks a new foundation as the team strives to reclaim their path to title success.

However, Brundle, known for his candid opinions, finds the updated W14 less aesthetically pleasing. Expressing his concern, he said the following ahead of the weekend:

“My concern is that it’s a complete concept that a car is built around, and that’s not going to win too many beauty parades is it that car? And it’s got a touch of sort of Frankenstein about it.

“But as the great Ken Tyrrell used to say, if they crossed the line first, they all look beautiful.

“I’m sorry, but it just looks like, I kind of imagined Toto [Wolff, Mercedes principal] and Lewis [Hamilton] saying, ‘right, if we keep doing the same thing, we’ll get the same result, do something, put something else on it’.

He continued:

“But I think what the team is saying in all seriousness is that this will enable us to have a new reference point and move forward from there, instead of being halfway up a ladder that appears to be going nowhere, as we saw in 2022 and so far in 2023.

“Let’s build another ladder that might enable us to climb higher is the analogy that’s been used, and let’s see how it performs, it might be magical.”

Mercedes is going to struggle this weekend with the Monaco GP being a difficult track to optimise a car for. With the track in need of a high downforce setup, we won't be seeing the full potential of the W14b for a couple of weekends yet as the team focuses on a very specific and limited setup.

Despite this, if FP1 is anything to go by, Lewis Hamilton is feeling much more confident in this updated car, finishing third on the timesheet. Teammate George Russell, on the other hand, isn't feeling as comfortable in the car with it spending almost as much time in the pits so far today as it did on the track. The Brit finished in 15th place - a disappointing result for Russell. But with plenty more practice available, it's early days yet.