Why George Russell feels the upgrades on the Mercedes W14 could work better on 'real track than in simulator'

George Russell feels there is a possibility that the Mercedes upgrades introduced in the 2023 F1 Monaco GP could work better on track than the results indicated on the simulator.

The upgrades aren't expected to be game-changers with both Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton admitting that they're not the silver bullets that would change things drastically. Having said that, there's still a baseline level of expectations from these upgrades and the improvements that they bring.

According to George Russell though, these improvements could possibly work better on the real track than what they did in the simulator. Talking about these upgrades, Russell said as per motorsport-total.com:

“There’s nothing scary about these updates or anything like that but I can’t imagine anything slowing us down either. You could say that purely technical updates work better on the real track than in the simulator because they give you more confidence in the car. So we’ll have to check that again next week.”

Mercedes upgrade worth a few tenths 'on paper'

By the looks of it, the new Mercedes upgrade could be worth a few tenths on paper. As reported by the German publication AMus, the drivers are already familiar with the upgrade package as they have tried it in the simulator.

The response seems positive and if the car behavior leads to an improved confidence in the car, the upgrades could be worth a lot more. AMuS reports:

“On paper, the B version, which is complemented for Monaco with a rear wing for maximum downforce, promises a progress of a few tenths of a second per lap. But what the wind tunnel announces must first arrive on the race track."

"The drivers are already familiar with the new package from the simulator – and have judged it positively there. And who knows: if the completely renewed Mercedes actually gives them more confidence, then maybe there’s more to it than the paper says.”

Mercedes will be hoping for a bigger boost than the couple of tenths that the upgrade package is speculated to bring. Having said that, it is fair to assume that these upgrades are meant to work only as the foundation for what the team wants to do with the car.

It remains to be seen how fast the recovery is for the team as Red Bull holds a significant advantage over their competition.