What if Mercedes’ Imola upgrade doesn’t work? “If they don’t see what they want"

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s troublesome W14 will feature developments next weekend at the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, finally an injection of good news after a slow start to the season.

However, they have been dealt a dose of reality by ex-IndyCar racer Patrick.

• ‘He’s not got the options he would want’ - Button on Hamilton’s future with Merc

“If this does really work and, at Imola, they get going better than will look like an entirely different season moving forwards,” she said on Sky.

“The test will be if they don’t see what they want to see.

“They have a high expectation that it doesn’t live up to it, but they don’t make enough progress, then the test will be going into a triple-header. 

“You’ve got to keep cool, stay positive, know there is more racing to be done.

“If the upgrade really does work, it will be a big deal for them.”

Former F1 driver Jenson Button added that there will be some expectation surrounding Mercedes now: “They have, because they’ve told us that they’ve got a big upgrade coming at Imola.

“It’s a big weekend for them. We are all excited by it, we need people jumping up the grid to fight the front guys.

“Hopefully it will put them in a place where they can fight Aston Martin. They won’t fight the Red Bull yet.

“For Fernando Alonso he wants the competition, he loves the competition with Lewis.”

• Newey declined Mercedes offer to stay with Red Bull 

Are Red Bull concerned?

“It's still a long season and [Mercedes] have got a lot of development time available to them,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.

"Let's see I keep hearing of massive upgrades for Mercedes coming and significant ones for Ferrari.

"So, you know, if they do have a B-spec car then, you know, things can change quite quickly."

Red Bull have won all five grands prix of 2023 heading into Emilia Romagna next weekend.