Toto Wolff announces the date of the next major upgrade for the W14. In the wake of his strong performances in Barcelona and Canada, Toto Wolff has announced the date of the next major update for the Mercedes W14.

After abandoning the concept of the Mercedes ‘zero-pod’ bodywork, the team has gone back to a more traditional development which could enable it to return to the front more quickly. While the improvements made a fortnight ago in Barcelona seem to be bearing fruit, Toto Wolff has announced another important date in the development of the W14.

Monaco update appears to be working

The team brought the updated W14 to Monaco having ordered wholesale changes to the car’s philosophy, with the ‘zero-pod’ sidepod inlets ditched for a more conventional setup in the most striking visual change to what Mercedes ran over the weekend. Indeed it appears most teams are converging on the Red Bull RB19 sidepod design.

This season’s car is a direct development of last years W13, a concept that grabbed most of the headlines as the team’s approach to the sidepods was unique at the start of last season, but former F1 driver Alexander Wurz points to the updated front suspension as a bigger game changer.

READ MORE: Hamilton sense of humour failure

“I happen to know that they had completely new kinematics, front suspension geometry,” Wurz explained on the F1 Nation podcast.

“And we’ve seen with the Mercedes car at certain times, let’s remember Budapest last year, when from almost out of nowhere, came Q3 and George Russell put it on pole, because suddenly that car mechanically, the tyres worked together so well, and it generated enormous grip.”

“I mean, that was a decisive moment for them to keep this philosophy, so I was watching very, very much.

Although Wurz was describing the update in Monaco at the time, he already could see an improvement from the new suspension design saying:

“Could you read something off a geometry? Is the driver more confident to rotate the car into the corner with more control? And it seems the answer is yes, a little bit.”

MORE F1 NEWS: Villeneuve responds to “shitstorm”

Barcelona prove updates are effective

During the buildup to the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes technical director James Allison confirmed Mercedes would not just rest on what they brought with them to Monte Carlo last time out, and would continue their development push with another small upgrade in Barcelona, with plenty more to come in the following races too.

“Well, we certainly will settle back and look at what the Monaco upgrade package has brought us at a more normal track, but we will also push on in parallel with a whole bunch more things,” Allison said,

“So, there will be a little bit we’re bringing to Barcelona and many more things in the races that follow.

“We can’t afford just to do everything sequentially. Although there’s a sort of academic purity to that, it’s just too slow a way of going ahead, so the upgrades will keep coming.

“Hopefully a decent package to build upon what we put on the track in Monaco, and then we just step forward from here up to the summer break and beyond.”

Leclerc “sick and tired” of Ferrari mistakes

More updates for Silverstone, the next key moment

For the next big update package, Toto Wolff reveals that the Mercedes W14 is due to undergo further improvements for Silverstone on the weekend of July 7-9.

“We’re bringing a bigger update to Silverstone, and then we should have another one before the summer break,” declared Toto Wolff after the Canadian Grand Prix.

He also reiterated that “the learning has accelerated a lot since we changed some of the conceptual architecture” and that “there should be some decent milestones in the next four races.”

Mercedes continues to develop its car in a bid to get closer to the untouchable Max Verstappen, and the end of the European tour could be key to that development.

READ MORE: Hamilton moans about car