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Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has admitted he was worried when he saw Lewis Hamilton’s car hoisted high into the air at a steep angle by a crane during final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. The W14 chassis was recovered by a crane after Hamilton crashed at Mirabeau near the end of the session. It tilted to a very steep angle for a moment, then settled, then was lifted high into the air.

In Monaco, cranes are regularly used to hoist stranded cars off the track to reduce recovery time. Sergio Perez’s Red Bull was similarly recovered in qualifying. Wolff admitted that he didn’t like the way his team’s car was treated, especially as it made areas normally hidden, such as the floor, more clearly visible. “The person who was operating the crane probably worked for Cirque du Soleil,” Wolff told the media. “Honestly, I don’t understand it,” he said. “The car was on the road, so it could have been put on the truck, or rather, to show the car to the whole world. To put it mildly. , it’s not optimal for us.” However, he made it clear that he did not intend to criticize Marshall. “Everyone is doing their best and I don’t want to be the team principal lashing out at the stewards doing their job.”

Mercedes F1 will introduce upgrades originally planned to be introduced at the canceled Imola over the weekend of the F1 Monaco GP. F1 announced on Wednesday that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was canceled due to flooding in the region. Various teams, including Mercedes F1, were expected to introduce a series of upgrades for the event.

After a difficult start to the 2023 season, Mercedes sees the upgrade as the first step in its return to the top. “What we bring to the Imola track is the first step in that effort,” said Mercedes F1 trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin ahead of the race cancellation. “Development in the wind tunnel takes a lot of time, it’s not something that happens overnight,” he said. “The Imola package is a step in that direction. We hope to bring other updates later this year.” “We want to be faster and have a better pace in qualifying and in the race, but the point is that we are not just aiming to break lap times, we are trying to go in a different direction of development. “We think this will give us a better chance of winning races and challenging for the world championship in the long run.” It was speculated that it would be carried over to the Spanish Grand Prix in a week’s time. However, a Mercedes F1 spokesperson confirmed to Motorsport Week that new parts will be fitted to the car in Monaco. The decision is made despite the slow speed of the circuit, which may present difficulties in understanding potential upgrades. There is also a high chance of crashing on tight circuits, so if the driver hits the wall, there is also the potential for a shortage of new parts related to the upgrade package. It is unclear if other teams will bring the upgrade to Monaco, but Ferrari is said to be delaying the introduction of the new suspension and will introduce it at Barcelona.

Hywel Thomas, Mercedes F1’s powertrain program general director, said at the presentation of the 2023 F1 machine “W14”, the purpose of changing the F1 power unit was for performance reasons, not reliability or safety. I inadvertently made it clear. At the presentation, a technical corner was set up where Mike Elliott and Hywel Thomas, technical directors of Mercedes F1, talked about the changes and improvements of the W14, the 2023 F1 machine.

Sky’s Natalie Pinkham asked how the challenges of 2022 and the underperforming W13 have influenced “the team’s mindset for 2023”. “The mindset I’ve seen, and the mindset we’ve talked about, is one of constant development,” said Highway Thomas. “On the PU[power unit]side, we’re subject to more restrictions due to the change in regulations.” “So it’s very difficult to find performance within that constraint, and only through true innovation and constant effort can performance be advanced.” , after which only changes are allowed to improve reliability. F1’s engineers are not used to public appearances, so it’s clear that they can’t be expected to have the media presentation skills that team bosses and drivers display. Neither Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff nor Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner will admit that they were aiming to improve performance under the current F1 power unit freeze regulations. Nor would he accept that the team’s mindset is ‘advancing performance’, as stated in Article 4 of the Technical Regulations. “During the homologation period, manufacturers may apply to the FIA ​​to modify homologated power unit elements solely for reliability, safety, cost savings or the minimum ancillary changes permitted by Article 5.4. Alpine F1 Team urges FIA to tighten crackdown Alpine F1 Team’s powertrain chief Bruno Famin recently said Renault would urge other manufacturers to change components within the power unit’s freeze architecture to maximum. He admitted that he had received 70 requests. Bruno Famín questioned whether some of his competitors’ upgrades should be investigated by the FIA ​​due to their unreliability. “Behind the reliability issue, of course, is potential performance gains. The boundaries are not always clear.” One thing is clear, you don’t gain anything by putting a better or different water pump on it,” Hywell Thomas. The confession should pave the way for the FIA ​​to review Mercedes’ power unit upgrades since it was frozen in March 2022. The intention at Brixworth is clearly for performance and as explained by Bruno Famin, parts that are not broken but are being replaced under the guise of improving reliability are clearly performance oriented and therefore the FIA should be prohibited.