Mercedes: Imola upgrade decision dates back to Bahrain GP

Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin says the decision to upgrade the team's W14 at Imola came right after the first race of the season in Bahrain back in March.

Mercedes is engaged in a significant overhaul of its 2023 car in a bid to establish a new stable baseline from where the Brackley squad can develop its car and hopefully reduce its performance gap to championship leader Red Bull.

Small updates were introduced in Azerbaijan where Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished P5 and P7 respectively, while their were no significant changes for the Miami Grand Prix.

But this week's round of racing at Imola will see Mercedes begin its 2023 turnaround efforts in earnest, with a development package designed to improve the W14's downforce but also its mechanical grip and ride thanks to a new floor and new front suspension.

It's unclear, however, if Mercedes will show up with new bodywork for its black arrow as it seeks to develop its car away from the troubled zero-sidepod concept introduced last year.

Hamilton, who finished sixth in Miami last time out, two spots behind Russell, admitted after the race that he was "counting down the days" until Mercedes brought its upgrades.

• Read also: Russell warns Mercedes upgrade at Imola 'won't change the world'

Shovlin revealed the timeline behind next weekend's changes.

"Well, if we go all the way back to the Bahrain test, Bahrain race, that was when we realised that we didn’t have a package that was going to allow us to fight for a world championship," the British engineer explained in a video on Mercedes YouTube channel.

"And if we continued on that same development direction, we wouldn’t end up in a position where we felt we could challenge Red Bull.

"So, it was around that time that we took some decisions on how we develop the car – how the car works aerodynamically, how we shape the characteristics of the car, how it is in terms of handling."

Shovlin made clear that this week's update package is but the first installment of an incremental new development plan for Mercedes' car.

"What we are going to be bringing to the track in Imola is the first step of that work," he said. "This takes quite a long time to develop in the wind tunnel, you can’t just do these things overnight.

"But the Imola package is the first step in that direction. We are hoping to bring other updates later in the year. We do hope it is quicker, we hope it is better in terms of qualifying and race pace.

"But, as I said, the key thing is not just looking to bring a lap time update. We are looking to head off in a different development direction, one that we think gives us a better chance in the long term of being able to challenge for race wins and world championships."

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