Toto Wolff offered some detailed insight into the first crucial upgrade package that Mercedes will implement at this month's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Mercedes is engaged in a significant overhaul of its 2023 car after Wolff recognized in Bahrain that the design's zero sidepod concept was fundamentally flawed and would not allow the Brackley squad to be competitive this season.
Small updates were introduced last weekend in Azerbaijan where Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished Sunday's race P5 and P7 respectively.
In Miami next weekend, Mercedes will attempt to hold its own alongside Ferrari and Aston Martin in the group chasing runaway outfit Red Bull Racing.
But at Imola, the former championship winning squad will begin in earnest it turnaround efforts.
"Yeah, the target is Imola," the Austrian confirmed, referring to the team rolling out its revised W14.
"We just need to manage everybody’s expectation because we’re talking so much about that upgrade.
"We’re not going to put it down on the track and then drive circles around Red Bull, but it’s going to be a good baseline, I think."
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Mercedes' upgrade package is expected to improve the W14's downforce but also its mechanical grip and ride thanks to a new floor and front suspension, changes that technical director James Allison says will "help the underlying balance of the car… to make it more driveable".
Wolff said however that the bias was towards improving the W14's "ride control".
"For our car, it is more about the ride control than it is about sheer downforce," he said. "We could put a lot of downforce on the car but the car would be too low and too stiff.
"You can see on the onboards, [Red Bull] is barely moving and the speed on the straights, all the bumps, the car balance is easy. If you look at all the other onboards, it looks like the cars are tricky.
"I think generally the ground effect cars are s**t cars, it is just who has the least s**ttiest, isn’t it?"
Wolff said that in an F1 world without any budget constraints, Mercedes would have simply designed an entirely new chassis. But cost cap restrictions means that the team's engineers must choose their battles.
"If we were completely free, we would bring a different chassis, and so what we have to decide really carefully is what we want to upgrade.
"As it’s a relative game, you just need to be clever in taking the right decisions that bring the optimum amount of performance.
"So, we're bringing a new front suspension to Imola and the aero upgrade that comes with it and floor.
"If we get the platform right, it's less about adding 10 points of downforce.
"It's more about giving the drivers a car where, if they turn the wheel into the corner, they actually know the rear doesn't overtake them - that's the problem."
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