Mercedes’ plan to return to winning ways

Lewis Hamilton during his pit stop at the Miami Grand Prix (Image: Getty Images)

Mercedes is introducing more upgrades at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (GP) to help root out the car's weaknesses in hopes of overcoming them and returning to winning ways.

The team faced another problematic race weekend at the Miami Grand Prix as they struggled in practice and qualifying but did make a comeback in the race. The team has confirmed that the W14's difference in performance between races has made it harder for the team to understand the issues the car faces.

Mercedes is introducing significant upgrades for the upcoming Emilia Romagna GP, including a new side pod, floor, and front suspension.

As well as hoping that the new package will improve performance, Toto Wolff, team principal and CEO of Mercedes F1 team, hopes that the changes will highlight the struggles within the current car.

Wolff is not expecting a significant leap in terms of performance but believes it will be the first step in the charge back to the front for the German team.

Wolff said: "We need to manage our expectations because we're bringing an update package that will consist of new suspension parts, bodywork, and some other things.

"I have never in my 15 years in F1 seen a silver bullet being introduced, where suddenly you unlock half a second of performance. So, I doubt this is going to happen here.

"But what I'm looking forward to is that we take certain variables off the table, where we believe we could have introduced something that we don't understand in the car. We can go more to a stable platform, and then we should see where the baseline is and what we can do from there.”

Toto Wolff speaking at the team principal press conference in Miami (Image: Getty Images)

Wolff believes the team needs to improve the car's downforce while also trying to maximise the performance of the car.

Wolff continued by stating: "What we're doing is we're introducing a new bodywork, and we're introducing a new floor, and we're doing a new front suspension, and that's pretty large. That's a pretty large operation. Extensive surgery. It will be much learning in the virtual world, where it is good lap time."

Wolff has confirmed that these changes to the car will be critical in the understanding and building of future upgrades to this season’s car and the construction of forthcoming season’s cars.

Wolff concluded by saying: "That's why the upgrade that we're bringing is going to help us to set the direction and to understand the various areas that we believe could play a role in why the car is so poisonous to drive."