Mercedes are set to bring their first major upgrade of the season at this weekend’s race in Imola, and the team’s Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has revealed how these updates should get them back on the path to competing with Red Bull.
The eight-time world champions are currently third in the championship, with 96 points – 128 points off championship leaders Red Bull – and head to Imola with just one podium to their name this season – Lewis Hamilton's second place in Melbourne.
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Their form so far this year has led Team Principal Toto Wolff to call the W14 “poisonous to drive", while their seven-time world champion driver, Hamilton, admitted after the Miami GP that he was “counting down the days” until Mercedes brought the upgrades.
And speaking in the team's debrief on Mercedes' YouTube channel, Shovlin revealed that the decision on these upgrades where made all the way back in Bahrain, with the aim being to give Mercedes a new “direction” to develop their car.
“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,” said Shovlin.