“Still a bit nasty on the rear” - Mercedes seeking improvements from upgrade

Mercedes introduced a significant upgrade package in Monaco as they look to their season around.

Given the unique nature of the Monaco circuit, it was difficult to get a clear read on whether they had taken a step forward.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth ahead of teammate George Russell in fifth, but they were beaten by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Speaking after the race, Wolff was asked about the impact the upgrade has had on the W14.

• Mercedes improved from ‘awful’ to ‘not good’ in Monaco

“The car felt together, which is important, but it’s still a bit nasty on the rear,” he said. “So that's something which we need to dial out of the car for the next few races.

“But we have a new baseline and that's important to say: ‘Okay, this is what we have now.' We've taken questions off the table where we weren't sure of, be it the front suspension or the extravaganza of our bodywork. So, let's work from here.

“We're good at grinding away and the work that was done in the factories to bring that update here to Monaco from our team, it was really a big effort.”

This weekend’s race takes place in Barcelona - a track often used over the years for pre-season testing.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has a number of low-speed, medium-speed and high-speed corners giving teams like Mercedes the perfect opportunity to assess their new package.

“I think Barcelona is not enough,” he added. “I think we need to collect data. That's why we put it also here in Monaco, and to collect further analysis which we will do in Barcelona. The next one, Montreal, is a little bit of an outlier again.

“But over the next races hopefully we can really increase the performance of the car. But it's not going to suddenly be right there.

“That's why I'm actually pleased with the time gap that we had in Monaco. It was always a mediocre track for us, so that’s okay.”