Wolff denies Mercedes is overspending: "We are still on track"

After a stumbling start to the season, Mercedes has been picking up momentum in the last few races. A double podium finish in Spain allowed the German team to overtake Aston Martin for second place in the constructors' championship, with the major upgrade in Monaco being particularly notable. However, Mercedes has more major upgrades planned for the upcoming races, while also ensuring that they stay within the budget cap.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explains to Autosport that the numerous upgrades - and, on top of that, a planned concept change for 2024 - are all achievable within the limits of the budget cap. “We have set up a huge organization of 46 people within our financial department, that monitors the budget cap down to the very last screw. It follows the trend of spending during all of the year and what we've done is basically allocated resource to various projects. We stayed below that line all year last year, and we’ve stayed below that line this year. Considering a normal development switch for next year, this is still pretty much on track," says Wolff, who studied Economics himself, referring to the finances.

According to the Austrian, the team is gaining a better understanding of what it needs, and thus, the budget for new parts is being optimally utilized. "The good thing is that we are constantly learning about what the car is doing. There are going to be some fundamental design changes for next year, but it's not that we're building stuff. It's more what are we simulating – and that is not measured in money. It’s teraflops or wind tunnel hours.”

W14 weaknesses create uneven battle with Red Bull

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton indicates that the W14 is particularly struggling in slow corners and with traction out of those slow corners. "We've got a lot of work to do just to add rear downforce to the car and a little bit more efficiency.” The British driver doesn't feel a significant difference since Mercedes introduced new parts in Monaco. “There are some elements of the car which do feel different, but it's simply having a little bit more downforce on the car. But the characteristics of the car are very, very similar to what we had earlier on in the year. For next year's car, you need to take a lot of these different things off and change them. It's definitely not, characteristic-wise, the car that's going to be able to beat the Red Bull just yet."