LISTEN | Mercedes fires up new F1 engine, Toto Wolff optimistic over 2023 chances

Toto Wolff has hinted the W14's design will be "full of surprises" as the Silver Arrows look to bounce back from a disastrous 2022.

Mercedes-AMG ended the season with just one win to their name as the W13 proved the most difficult car in the German constructor's history.

With Wolff recently suggesting that the problems for the W13 were present as early as October of the previous year, it can be assumed Mercedes have been working for a good few months now on the 2023 car.

Mercedes have shown before that they can pull a few tricks out of the bag with their car arriving for the 2022 season, famously lacking sidepods compared to their competitors. And with teams set to unveil their entries for the upcoming season next month, Wolff has hinted that the car will be quite different this time around.

"It's full of surprises," Wolff told media. "The last time I saw it, I thought, 'oh, this looks the same [as the W13]', but here's hoping it's not the same."

W14's first words! ??Firing up our 2023 @F1 car... pic.twitter.com/6delOaaE4H

Sharing qualities

Given the large change in regulations for the 2022 season, it is likely that the W14 will share at least some aesthetic qualities with the W13, and Wolff did admit even if its successor looked similar, he has been assured that it is very different underneath.

"I'm pretty much like you, I go into the wind tunnel, and it looks like last year's car, but they say to me it's very different underneath," he said.

"It's about the airflow. It's about the weight distribution. It's about the aero map. Our car fundamentally changed mid-year. We changed the concept, but we couldn't see anything on the bodywork."

Even if the cars do look similar, Wolff will be hoping that none of the bad habits of the W13