"There is a lot of Mercedes in there" - Toto Wolff finds 'good news' in Aston Martin's astonishing performance at 2023 F1 Bahrain GP

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is unhappy with his team's result in the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP. However, he still hopes that they can take drastic steps forward and improve their car, especially after witnessing Aston Martin's performance. One of the biggest surprises this year was the green British team. They were able to make massive improvements from 2022 and place themselves amongst other top teams.

Since Aston Martin runs Mercedes power units, Toto Wolff is confident that they themselves can be as fast if not faster. Speaking to Sky Sports, he confidently stated that his team could come back simply because Aston Martin proved that their power unit has the potential to fight for podiums. He said:

"We can [come back], absolutely we can. I think it needs to be much more radical in the steps than hope for a three-tenths upgrade."

He added:

"[Aston Martin] deserve what they have done, they did a good job. The good news for us is there is a lot of Mercedes in there. To pinpoint it, that would be helpful in the recovery."

Toto Wolff hinted that Aston Martin could indirectly help the W14's development since there are a lot of important parts that are common between the two teams. However, the overall shapes of the AMR23 and the W14 are massively different from one another, resulting in aerodynamic differences. Hence, we might see some different body parts in Mercedes' future upgrade packages.

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Mercedes technical director reveals news about new bodywork coming soon for the W14

Ahead of the Bahrain GP, Mercedes technical director Mike Elliot revealed that the team will bring a new sidepod for their 2023 challenger after the first race. Teams have already started developing new parts for their cars after collecting loads of data in pre-season testing.

Since the Silver Arrows are still on the back foot at the start of the new season, they will need to bring in new parts to improve their car as soon as possible.

Speaking of the new bodywork, Mike Elliot stated:

"Toto [Wolff] already said we’ve got a different bodywork coming. 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. It’s part of the normal development. We have got a very different sidepod coming."

He further added:

"But it takes time to bring that. It takes time to make the bits, it takes time to change the bits that go underneath the bodywork to fit, so we’ll bring it as soon as we can."

Mercedes are the only team that has been trying out the zero-pod concept since 2022. Unfortunately, the concept hasn't yielded much success, as illustrated by the season opener in Bahrain.