The Mercedes upgrade package and the mystery around it intrigues Damon Hill: "We’re very excited to see what they’re going to bring"

The Mercedes major upgrade package has left Damon Hill intrigued, especially when it comes to its mystical nature. Much has been said about the upgrade package that the team will now introduce in Monaco. Unlike the conventional 'no-sidepod' design that the team has persisted with, the new upgrade is expected to feature almost 80% new bits and pieces.

Talking about the Mercedes upgrade package, Damon Hil admitted he was a bit intrigued by what was going to be on offer from the team.

Talking about how intrigued he was by it, he said on the F1 Nation podcast:

"Red Bull are still going to be the quickest. I don’t care where we are. We’re chasing them and we want to beat them. I think you spoke to George after the race in Miami and he was downplaying. He said, ‘Listen, don’t expect too much’."

He continued:

"Then you have Toto saying, ‘We got this big package coming’, and of course, we’re expecting a lot. We’re expecting a huge amount, especially if they talk about the sidepod, because that’s been the big bone of contention over the last two years – why do their sidepods look so different to everyone else?"

He added:

“And then you have the people at Mercedes saying, ‘Well that’s actually a small part of the aero package, and you’re making too much of it’. But there’s got to be something in it. We’re very excited to see what they’re going to bring in terms of that, so intriguing to predict or to guess what we’re going to see on the Mercedes."

It's a step in the right direction: Mercedes boss

Toto Wolff too seemed confident of the step that the German team was bringing to the car. The Mercedes boss admitted that it was not going to change the fortunes of the team in one race but it was going to be a step in the right direction.

He said:

“It’s a step in the right direction, hopefully, for us to really be able to progress. We have to be careful that we have our expectations under control. I don’t think we’ll get there and suddenly we’re half a second faster and in the middle of a fight. We won’t."

He concluded:

"But we are now laying a new foundation and at least taking some issues off the table that we believe are contributing to us being too slow. Let’s see what that brings.”

The team will introduce its upgrade package in Monaco and it will be very interesting to see if there are any visible changes from the previous car.

Edited by Yasho Amonkar