F1 News: George Russell Questions W14 Upgrades In Hilarious Tweet

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes unveiled an updated W14 model featuring sidepods, a departure from the debated 'zero sidepod' concept, eliciting humorous commentary from team member George Russell on social media.

With the Monaco Grand Prix quickly approaching, the Mercedes team has unveiled the upgraded W14 (b), a new start and direction for the failing Brackley team, doing away with the widely debated 'zero sidepod' design. This sudden shift in engineering principles has not escaped the cheeky observation of their own team member, George Russell, who took to social media to humorously comment on the alteration.

Mercedes have publicly announced the updated W14 model after admitting the original concept had a ceiling simply too low to compete with the likes of Aston Martin and Red Bull. Toto Wolff, the team's principal, initially remained steadfast in adhering to the original W13 design. However, after watching the w14 fall even further than last year's mild success, Wolff had a change of heart, realising that the 'zero sidepod' concept wasn't yielding the expected results.

Once this realisation set in, the wheels were set in motion to reimagine the car with James Allison now much more involved with the car's design. The aim was to roll out the updated model at the Imola race. However, the race cancellation necessitated postponing the debut to the Monaco race weekend. Contrary to the initial design, the updated version of the car does feature sidepods, which wasn't much of a surprise for the audience.

What are those pod things on the side? Never seen those before…

— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) May 25, 2023

Mercedes' own George Russell didn't let the opportunity to jest about his car's new appearance pass by. Tweeting in response to Mercedes' announcement, Russell jokingly questioned, "What are those pod things on the side? Never seen those before...".

It's been reported that these upgrades will see the W14 gain 2-tenths a lap, but with Monaco being the kind of track it is, fans must be realistic with their expectations. Not only have its drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Russell, got to perform perfectly on the winding tarmac of Monaco, but the team also has to learn and optimise the car's setup, something which may take at least a weekend of work. 

Expect to see some glow vis paint this weekend.