Toto Wolff teases what Mercedes fans can expect from the W14 in Baku
The F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the latest opportunity for Mercedes to put their latest developments to the test.
Lewis Hamilton finished as runner-up last time out in Australia, a promising sign although Red Bull’s dominance remains strong.
"We've had a few weeks off from racing but both factories have been hard at work," Mercedes team principal Wolff said.
"We've tried to maximise this period, bringing planned development to the car and extracting as much as possible from our learnings so far.
"Australia showed that we are making progress, although we need to be cautious about reading too much into a single result.
“But the signs in Melbourne were still encouraging and that has been a good motivator for the whole team heading into this gap in the calendar.
"Over the next races, we want to keep on making small steps forward.
“The car will continue to evolve in the coming weeks, as we steadily bring performance and upgrades to the track.
“We’re excited to see their impact, but we know there is no magic bullet.”
This weekend in Baku features the first F1 sprint race of the season, with a new format and new rules.
"After just under a month with no F1 action, everyone’s eager to be back out on track,” Wolff said.
“Thankfully we’ve got plenty of that coming up. It’s a busy window in the calendar with five races in six weekends, starting with Azerbaijan.
"The racing in Baku is always dramatic and entertaining. It's a challenging track with the walls close, so there’s no room for error.
“We also have our first F1 sprint weekend of the season with a tweaked format.
"It’s an interesting challenge for us to tackle, with only a single practice session to be ready for two qualifying sessions and races spread across Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully this will mean more excitement and action for fans to enjoy."
Red Bull have won all three grands prix of 2023 so far, twice via reigning champion Max Verstappen.
Hamilton went winless in 2022 for the first time during his career and will be eager to avoid that plight again, and the first steps for him to become competitive with Verstappen again will take place in Azerbaijan.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
