Mercedes wouldn't hesitate to replicate rival design – Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the Brackley squad would "without a doubt" take inspiration from a rival F1 team's design, but "revolution is not necessary".

Earlier this month, Wolff said that Mercedes' 2023 contender with which the team will seek to turn around its fortunes after last year's troubled campaign will be "full of surprises".

In terms of aesthetics, Mercedes' W14 isn't expected to be a departure from last season's silver arrow, but under the bodywork, wholesale changes are anticipated to help the team rub out, among other things, the chronic porpoising issues that heavily impacted its 2022 ground-effect design.

It's still unclear if Mercedes will retain the striking "zero sidepod" concept that characterized last year's machine. But Wolff has ensured that the team's engineers have not undertaken a major revolution regarding the design of their 2023 car.

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"Revolution is not necessary if you understand where to start," the Mercedes boss told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

"In general, the point is that stability and a safe environment are enormously important in Formula 1. That is precisely our strength. That’s what made us learn faster in 2022.

"I think we already have to change some things where we found they didn’t work. We had a discussion with a shareholder. He asked us: Are you changing the concept? My answer was: What does concept mean?

"Does it refer to what is visible from the outside – narrow or wide side boxes? Or does concept mean differences in the architecture, in the weight distribution, with the aerodynamic window? In other words, things that are not visible. There is no sacred plan with us. We mercilessly question everything."

Red Bull's RB18 was the class of the field last season. Mercedes has always been a leader in terms of design, but if its engineers spot a concept worth replicating, they would not hesitate to do so.

"If we had to do something that looked like another car, we would do it without a doubt. At the moment, everything is going in the direction of things that take place under the bodywork.

"That can and hopefully will contribute to our performance getting better again."

Mercedes was saved from a winless campaign last season by George Russell's flawless victory in Brazil. But the young Briton's triumph held a special significance for the team and for the future according to Wolff.

"The victory was certainly important in confirming our development direction," he said. "We believe that before the summer we understood where we were going wrong.

"That’s not something you can change from one day to the next. You need many months of lead time.

"We have clearly seen a trend for the better – on tracks that suit the configuration of our car and the aerodynamic properties. That was already good in Austin and Mexico, and even better in Brazil.

"By winning, we were able to tick off this item on our list as well. No one can say that Mercedes didn’t win a race in 2022. And not only did we win it, but we won the sprint and finished first and second in the Grand Prix. That weekend was not a fluke."

"We probably could have won a few more races if we had either made fewer mistakes or had a bit more performance."

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