Russell reports 'smooth' first laps of W14 at Silverstone

George Russell gave Mercedes' new W14 its first track run on Wednesday at Silverstone, with the Briton enjoying a "smooth" maiden outing onboard the new car.

Russell took to the track in the wake of the presentation to the media of Mercedes' striking all-black contender that the Brackley squad hopes will take it back to the front of the grid in 2023.

The team's mileage at Silverstone was purposefully limited to just 15 km to classify the outing as a demo run.

But Mercedes has booked the circuit for Thursday when the team will enjoy a 100-km filming day that will allow Russell and Lewis Hamilton to get a first real feel for their new mount.

"It’s been a smooth day, but it’s so difficult to say," commented Russell.

"Last year we came away from that shakedown not with too many thoughts to be honest, we were so compromised by weather.

"But you’ve got to take the results from today [with] a pinch of salt and make sure there’s no major scares and just make sure the car’s running today in Bahrain.

"That’s going to be the true test. As much as we want to get out of a day like today it’s kind of meaningless in that regard."

• Read also: Mercedes confident it's 'figured out what we needed to do'

Mercedes' engineers have attempted to transfer the qualities of last year's car to the W14 while leaving behind the latter's well chronicled weaknesses, such as the porpoising phenomenon.

The team's design department led by technical director Mike Elliott has retained the innovative 'zero sidepod' concept exploited by Mercedes last season on its W13.

But underneath the skin of the new car there have been many changes and modifications.

“When you look at the cars that have been released, it’s all in the detail,” Elliott said on Wednesday.

"The key bits are we’ve completely changed the suspension to help with the handling. There are significant changes in the bodywork, although the core stayed the same."

Along with its rivals, Mercedes will head to Bahrain this weekend where it will set up shop for F1's pre-season testing that will kick off on February 23, with the first round of the 2023 F1 world championship taking place a week later at Sakhir.

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