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After weeks of speculation, Mercedes’ long-awaited upgrades to their W14 car are finally set to arrive for this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.

The Silver Arrows realised as early as the beginning of March at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix that they had made an error by sticking with their design concept from the previous year.

There had been hope that untapped potential remained in the eye-catching ‘zero-sidepod’ look first seen on their previous W13 model, but it quickly became clear the new car would be unable to challenge Red Bull, who in 2022 emphatically ended Mercedes’ eight-year streak of constructors’ titles and have won all five races to start the new campaign.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said as early as Friday practice in Bahrain that they were on the “wrong track” before team principal Toto Wolff conceded that the W14 design “didn’t work out”.

Since then, it has been a case of damage limitation with Mercedes battling Aston Martin and Ferrari to finish behind the Red Bulls, and seven-time world champion Hamilton admitting he has been “counting the days” until the upgrades arrive.

There have already been repercussions in Mercedes’ senior leadership team, with James Allison returning as technical director in place of Mike Elliott, who moved into the broader chief technical officer role.

With the waiting almost over, we have collated the most notable comments coming from the Brackley outfit to answer the key questions ahead of the upgrades being unveiled at Friday practice in Imola, live on Sky Sports F1.

Why have the upgrades taken this long?

Given Mercedes realised they needed to make major changes at the first race of the season, some may wonder why it has taken them two-and-a-half months to have them ready.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin last week explained: “If we go all the way back to the test and race in Bahrain, that was where we realised that we didn’t have a package that was going to allow us to fight for a world championship – if we continued on that same development direction, we wouldn’t end up in a position where we felt we could challenge Red Bull.

“It was around that time that we took some decisions on how we develop the car, how the car works aerodynamically, and how we shape the characteristics of the car. In essence, how it is in terms of handling for the drivers to drive.

“What we are going to be bringing to the track in Imola is the first step of that work. This takes quite a long time to develop in the wind tunnel and you can’t just do these things overnight.”

Discussing upgrades on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Karun Chandok added: “They take as long as they take. I think that’s what people don’t understand – you can’t just think of an idea and just put it on the car for the next race.

“There’s a six-to-eight week lead time. You come up with an idea, design it in CFD (computational fluid dynamics) in the virtual world, then once you’re happy with that, you make a model which goes in the wind tunnel – there’s x amount of testing that has to happen with that.

“Then it goes to the composite department to make the parts and get them to the actual race, and that whole process is six-seven weeks at least.”

Are Mercedes ditching their ‘zero-sidepod’ concept?

When Mercedes unveiled their 2022 W13 model in Bahrain last year, the car’s lack of sidepods stunned the paddock.

Given the team’s incredible streak of titles and reputation for excellence, most assumed it was another moment of genius that would ensure more success.

While the sidepods aren’t the only reason Mercedes haven’t reached the level they aspire to, they are undoubtedly a key element and appear set for a radical change in Imola.

As early as the Bahrain GP, then technical director Elliott said of new planned sidepods: “It won’t be the same as other people’s and it won’t be the same as we’ve got, it’ll be different.

“We have got a very different sidepod coming – I say very different, a different sidepod that’s coming.”

So yes, we can be pretty sure the sidepods are going to look different, but plenty of mystery remains around exactly what form they will take.

What other changes will there be?

Speaking at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, Hamilton made it very clear that changing the sidepods alone wouldn’t solve Mercedes’ issues.

“People keep talking about getting the new sidepods on the car but it’s not as simple as that,” the Brit said.

“You put the Red Bull sidepods on our car and it won’t change a thing, it literally won’t change a thing, it might even go slower.

“It’s about aero characteristics, it’s how the car is balanced through the corners. There’s so many different elements that people of course would not know because they’re not aerodynamicists and you can’t see it – there’s a lot more to it.”

Aside from the sidepods, Mercedes had largely been reluctant to share much information about what would be changing, but Wolff gave his most detailed answer at the Miami Grand Prix earlier in May.

“What we are doing is we’re introducing a new bodywork and we’re introducing a new floor and we’re doing a new front suspension,” he said.

“That’s a pretty large operation, a large surgery and so there is going to be a lot of learning.”

Will the upgrades enable Mercedes to challenge Red Bull?

Red Bull have won all five races this season in dominant fashion, with Max Verstappen topping the drivers’ standings as he seeks a third successive title.

Given the stunning pace of the RB19, it’s difficult to see anyone closing the 122-point lead Red Bull have already opened up in the constructors’ standings, but just competing with them for wins would undoubtedly be a triumph.

Asked in Miami what he is expecting from the upgrades, Wolff said that in the “virtual world” the car is producing a “good lap time” but has repeatedly warned that suddenly challenging Red Bull is highly unlikely.

“We need to manage our own expectations,” Wolff said. “Because we are bringing an update package that is going to consist of new suspension parts and bodywork and some other things but I have never in my 15 years in Formula 1 seen a silver bullet being introduced where suddenly you unlock half a second of performance. I very much doubt this is going to happen here.

“What I’m looking for is that we take certain variables off the table where we believe we could have introduced something that we don’t understand in the car and to have a stable platform. We shall see what our baseline is and what we can do from there.”

While Wolff is keen to manage expectations, Hamilton’s revelation that he’s been “counting the days” until the upgrades suggests that there is internal confidence of significant improvement.

While it must be noted that Ferrari are also expected to bring major upgrades to Imola, Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok believes Mercedes are hoping to establish themselves as Red Bull’s nearest challengers.

“I believe there’s a decent upgrade coming to the Mercedes in Imola, and I’m really intrigued to see where that moves them,” Chandhok said.

“I don’t think it will move them into Red Bull territory, but I think they’re hoping it will clear them ahead of Aston and Ferrari, that’s their ambition I think, but we’ll see.”

Will more Mercedes upgrades follow?

Once upon a time, Mercedes would have quite literally been able to build a completely different ‘B-spec’ car, but Formula 1’s budget cap and the sliding scale of aero testing allowed puts limitations on what they can do.

Despite those measures, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes have enough funds remaining to continue on the path they will reveal in Imola.

Wolff said: “Yes we do, because if you embark on a new development direction it’s that one project you concentrate on so that should be fine.”

While Wolff has said he believes Mercedes can win races this season, the ultimate aim of the concept change is to ensure the Silver Arrows can get back to competing with Red Bull over a full campaign.

Shovlin explained in his Miami GP review: “We do hope that it is quicker, we hope that it’s better in terms of qualifying and race pace.

“The key thing though is that we are not just looking to bring a lap time update, we are looking to head off in a different development direction. One that we think gives us a better chance in the long term of being able to challenge for race wins and world championships.”

Formula 1 returns to Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from May 19-21. Watch every session live on Sky Sports F1 including the race from 2pm on Sunday May 21.

Formula 1’s drivers were introduced to the grid at the Miami Grand Prix by musician LL Cool J in a ceremony that lasted more than seven minutes; Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and several others offered a range of opinions on the event

Formula 1 drivers have offered a split verdict after the sport tried out a new look with musician LL Cool J introducing the drivers onto the grid ahead of Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.

The 20 drivers were introduced one-by-one in a ceremony that lasted more than seven minutes, and required the usual pre-race schedule to be altered.

Formula 1’s rapid growth in recent years has motivated those running the sport to maintain an innovative approach, as they seek to continue to extend its reach.

Along with LL Cool J’s appearance, fellow musician Will.i.am released an F1 inspired single on Sunday to coincide with the race.

The proceedings appeared to have little negative impact on the drivers, with an extremely clean race playing out as Max Verstappen caught Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to extend his world championship lead.

However, the consensus after the race appeared to be that drivers feel like too much is being asked of them as they prepare to deliver an elite performance.

Here’s what they had to say:

Max Verstappen, Red Bull:

“Personally, I think it is just a personality thing. Some people like to be more in the spotlight, some other people don’t. I personally don’t, so for me I think that naturally what they did today is not necessary.

“I prefer to just talk to my engineers then put my helmet on and drive but of course I understand the entertainment value.

“I just hope we don’t have that every single time because it is a long season so we don’t need an entry like that every time but it also depends a bit on the crowd I think in terms of what you want.

“I think it is just a personal preference as well from the drivers.”

Sergio Perez, Red Bull:

“I think as long as we don’t do it on too many occasions.

“I think it is nice to do it once for the crowd but we also have to be very respectful of the drivers.

“We need our own time to get ready and it is just minutes before the race starts and I think as long as it doesn’t happen very often it is ok.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin:

“I understand the point of view of everybody but I am not a big fan of those things just before the race.

“If we have to do it, I think we need to remove some of the other stuff we are doing like the parade lap or something like that because it is really in the middle of the preparations and the strategy meeting.

“I disagree a little bit with if we do it we don’t have to do it everywhere because I don’t think the Miami fans are better than the Italian fans in Imola or in Spain or in Mexico or in Japan.

“I think we need to make everyone with the same rules and the same show before the race.”

George Russell, Mercedes:

“We spoke about it as drivers on Friday night. Everybody has got different personalities, I guess it is the American way of doing things and doing sport.

“Personally, it is probably not for me but that is just my personal opinion because I am here to race. I am not here for the show, I am here to drive and I am here to win, but I guess we have to roll with it.

“It is distracting because we were on the grid for half an hour in our overalls in the sun and I don’t think there is any other sport in the world where 30 minutes before you go out to do your business that you are out there in the sun, all the cameras on you, making a bit of a show of it.

“I can appreciate that in the entertainment world but, as I said, we only want the best for the sport and we are open to changes but we wouldn’t want to see it every weekend.

“I don’t think it will be at every weekend, I think it will be at the big races.

“The thing I love every single race is the national anthem. That sort of pumps you up and is respectful to the country you are racing at but I have mixed feelings on the additional show.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:

“I think it is cool that the sport is continuously growing and evolving and they are not just doing the same things they have done in the past.

“They are trying new things, they are trying to improve the show and I am in full support of it.

“I grew up listening to LL Cool J and then he is there, that was cool.

“You have got Will.i.am, who is an incredible artist. You have got Serena and Venus (Williams) standing there. It was cool.”

What’s next?

There’s a brief pause for breath before Formula 1 returns to Europe for a triple-header of back-to-back races.

The first of those is the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola from May 19-21, with Mercedes and Ferrari expected to bring significant upgrades which they hope will move them closer to Red Bull.

All eyes will be on Ferrari at the first of their two home races this season, with the team’s inconsistent start to the campaign likely to come under major scrutiny in front of the tifosi.

Charles Leclerc crashed at Turn Seven in the closing stages of Q3 at the Miami GP having hit barriers at same corner in practice; Leclerc to start Sunday’s race from seventh; watch Miami GP live on Sky Sports F1 at 8:30pm Sunday

Charles Leclerc admits his crash in Miami GP Qualifying was “unacceptable” after also hitting the barriers in the same place during Friday practice.

Leclerc was pitched into a high-speed spin after losing control of his Ferrari at Turn Seven during his final Q3 run. The crash brought out the red flag and prevented anyone else getting in a second lap as Sergio Perez took pole.

It was a case of déjà vu for Leclerc after his Friday practice had been curtailed by a crash through the same corner.

Having also made an error on his first Q3 run, Leclerc will start seventh on Sunday and he could not hide his anger at himself afterwards.

“More than the track, I think what’s unacceptable is doing twice the same mistake in the same corner. I am really disappointed with myself,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.

“You can always find excuses in those situations, the wind was really strong, it was really tricky, the set up of the car was really tricky also but I put myself in this condition. I wanted this set up and I knew it would be tricky, but I thought I would be able to extract the maximum out the car in Q3, which is normally one of my strong points.

“I know that I’m also taking more risks than others in Q3, which is why most of the time why I’m doing good Q3s but this is too much.

“Very disappointed with myself, I did the same mistake yesterday and this shouldn’t happen.”

Asked if he was putting too much pressure on himself in Q3 sessions, Leclerc replied: “I don’t think so. It’s paying off most of the time, but this weekend I did too much and I cannot hide my disappointment.”

There is the possibility of rain affecting Sunday’s race, and Leclerc says his initial focus is just on staying out of trouble.

“Now looking forward to tomorrow we are starting seventh, weather looks to be quite tricky so hopefully we’ll have a clean race and be able to come back to the front,” he said.

“The Astons look strong in race pace so I don’t know exactly where we are going to be, a podium would be a really good finish tomorrow considering our race pace.”

Brundle: Leclerc doing a lot of damage at key times

As well as his crash on Friday, Leclerc ended up in the barriers of the Sprint Shootout at last weekend’s Azerbaijan GP when trying to improve his SQ3 time.

High-profile crashes have littered Leclerc’s F1 career, and Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle thinks the 25-year-old is too often pushing beyond his limits.

“Leclerc was just totally lit up through there, too hard. We see that a lot with Charles, he doesn’t seem to quite know where the limit is,” Brundle said on commentary.

“His determination and his speed is so incredible, but there’s no cut off point until he hits something, we’ve seen it a lot through his career and a lot lately as well.

“He’s just got to take a quarter of a per cent out of it somewhere. He’s doing a lot of damage to that Ferrari and at critical times.”

The Formula 1 season continues with the Miami GP – watch Sunday’s race live on Sky Sports F1 from 7pm, lights out at 8.30pm. Get Sky Sports

Lewis Hamilton says it was a “kick in the guts” for Mercedes to be so far behind Red Bull at the end of Friday practice and is going into qualifying day at the Miami GP with no expectations.

Signs had initially looked promising for Mercedes after George Russell led Hamilton in a surprise one-two in Practice One, albeit their times being set when track conditions were at their best.

But Friday afternoon saw Mercedes’ difficulties return as Hamilton finished the session seventh, 0.928s off Max Verstappen’s leading time and behind Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris as well as the two Ferraris and Red Bulls. Russell, meanwhile, ended up 15th.

“We’re not particularly quick and it’s a struggle out there,” Hamilton said on Friday evening.

“We’re trying lots of different things. P1 looked quite good and then to come into P2 and the true pace came out – it’s a kick in the guts.

“It’s difficult to take sometimes but it’s OK, we’ll keep on working on it and we’ll regroup tonight and see if we can make some set-up changes and get the car in a sweeter spot.”

He added: “I’m trying to stay positive with it and we’re working as hard as we can. It’s just we’re dying, desperately need those upgrades for sure.

“Just got to keep our head down for one more race and then hopefully we’ll start a new path next race.”

A year ago, Mercedes topped a Friday practice session at the inaugural Miami GP before Russell suffered a Q2 exit and Hamilton could only manage sixth in qualifying on Saturday.

And the seven-time world champion is just hoping to be part of Q3 given the difficulty he is having with the W14 this weekend.

“I don’t have expectation. The car I just hope I can get it into a better place tomorrow. I hope we can be in Q3 and if we can be mid-bunch of that top 10 that would be great,” Hamilton said.

“Melbourne was night and day difference, much much nicer to drive there. Baku felt better than here also. Maybe it’s the heat or maybe it’s the balance we have at the moment.

“I’m going to stay optimistic and I’m going to stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place tomorrow and maybe be a couple of steps up.

“But it feels like, apart from last year we had large-scale bouncing, it generally feels like we’re racing pretty much the same car and that’s the difficult thing.”

Russell: We can still get ahead of Ferraris, Astons

Russell’s difficult second session saw him at one point complain that his car felt like it was “three-wheeling” through Turn Two.

The 25-year-old believes he and the team understand why he struggled on his soft tyre attempts on Friday and retains hope that Mercedes can still get ahead of the Ferraris and Aston Martins come race day.

“It’s fine margins,” Russell said.

“If we get things right, there’s no reason why we can’t be ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin – that’s the aim.

“I think we’ve seen in these first four races now it’s really tight between those three teams, so if only that was for the win and pole position, it would be exciting. But it’s good because it shows if we can get things right, we can be rewarded and jump ahead of them.

“I think we need to make some improvements overnight. We know we’ve got the potential because we saw it in FP1 and we saw it at the start of FP2, but for sure we just need to get things aligned.”

Max: I always felt good | Perez: I’ve not driven well

Friday saw contrasting fortunes for the two Red Bull drivers and title rivals.

Verstappen, who leads Sergio Perez by six points in the championship heading into the weekend, had dominated Practice One until the late laps from the two Mercedes and Charles Leclerc usurped him, but still finished over a second ahead of his team-mate.

The Dutchman was then nearly half a second ahead of Perez in the afternoon session as he stamped his authority on the weekend.

“I think it was a good day. Initially I think it was getting used to the track a bit with the new tarmac, I think it was ramping up a lot throughout the day,” Verstappen said.

“I always felt good in the car and we had good balance.

“Most importantly today I think we had a good balance in the car to start with, so I felt happy. There’s still a few little things we want to look at.”

Perez admitted he needed to improve over the remainder of the weekend.

“I haven’t had the greatest of Fridays but my lap was also pretty bad where I locked up on the final corner,” Perez said.

“I think there is quite a bit to come together with my driving. I don’t think I drove well today, so if I can improve my driving and get myself a bit more comfortable I’ll be all right.”

Leclerc on P2 crash: I pushed too much

Leclerc finished third in both of Friday’s practice sessions, but his afternoon running was curtailed 10 minutes early in the second of those when he crashed into the barriers after losing control at Turn Seven, bringing out the red flag.

Ferrari are running an upgraded floor and diffuser in Miami but the rear of the car escaped undamaged in the crash.

Leclerc said the crash was due to pushing too hard and struck a defeatist tone about the chances of reeling in Red Bull on Sunday.

“I pushed a bit too much lost the rear, tried to recover from it, but I had no grip to recover the car. There was no damage to the rear of the car, which is the most important, and tomorrow is another day,” Leclerc said.

“Apart from that I think the feeling is pretty good over one lap, but over the race we are so far behind. Red Bull is again in a league of it’s own, but very far in front so in the race we have a lot of time to find. In qualifying, we are more or less there.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Miami GP schedule

Saturday
5.15pm: Miami GP Practice Three (session starts 5.30pm)
8pm: Miami GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Miami GP Qualifying
10.45pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday
7pm: Grand Prix Sunday Miami GP build-up
8.30pm: THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX
10.30pm: Chequered Flag Miami GP reaction
11.30pm: Ted’s Notebook

The Formula 1 season continues with the Miami GP this weekend. Watch qualifying at 9pm on Saturday with lights out at 8.30pm on Sunday. Get Sky Sports