TOTO WOLFF has given a bleak prediction over Lewis Hamilton's title prospects even after Mercedes bring in major upgrades.
The struggling team have earmarked the race at Imola at the end of May to bring in developments.
Team principal Wolff is hoping to cut the gap to the dominant Red Bull team who have won all four races this season at a canter.
But the Austrian boss has warned fans that improvements will not automatically make Hamilton and teammate George Russell title contenders.
Hamilton's podium at the chaotic Australian Grand Prix is the sole top three finish the team can boast this season.
And following this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Wolff said: "The target [for the upgrade] is Imola but I need to manage everybody's expectations.
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"We are talking so much about the upgrade but we are not going to put it down on the track and drive circles around Red Bull."
He added that the result's from the Baku race has demonstrated the gap between Red Bull and the rest of the field, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finishing 21 seconds behind winner Sergio Perez.
The 51-year-old said: "Over 40 racing laps – that's half a second a lap. At least we saw that they [Red Bull] were pushing today, but half-a-second is quite a long way to go.
"We basically have two cars that are sailing off into the sunset on merit. We either have to do a better job, all of us together, to catch them up, or change the regulations."
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"And I don't think we should be doing the second. We have to win on merit and that means being more clever."
The now famous 2021 season saw Hamilton and Max Verstappen go head-to-head in machinery of a similar level, while the 2022 campaign saw Ferrari and Mercedes occasionally able to challenge Red Bull on pace.
This campaign appears altogether different with Red Bull so far ahead of the field.
Perez and Verstappen have two race wins each while Perez also won the revamped sprint in Azerbaijan.
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