Former Mercedes boss Nick Fry recently talked about the upcoming 2024 F1 season and his predictions about which teams could vie for the championship. Aside from the obvious choice of Red Bull, F1 Maximaal reports Fry took the name of Ferrari contending for the championship, which came at the suggestion of his 8-year-old daughter. However, it wasn’t the only reason behind the prediction.
“Ferrari would be my favorite to beat Red Bull. My eight-year-old daughter has a strong preference for Charles Leclerc and she told me to say Ferrari,” explained Fry.
Apart from personal reasons, Fry claimed Fred Vasseur’s presence in the Ferrari setup would benefit them greatly in 2024. Per Fry, the French engineer has a lot of experience under his belt of being a team principal and will do a good job of keeping his team calm, especially when facing pressure from the Italian media.
ÚLTIMA HORA: Ferrari comienza el montaje del 676
Ya ha empezado el ensamble del monoplaza de la Scuderia para la temporada de 2024.
Como aseguró Fred Vasseur el proyecto ha cambiado un 95% con respecto al SF-23.
[@Motorsport_IT]#F1 pic.twitter.com/DJgYnMdoW3
— Fórmula Directa (@FormulaDirecta) January 25, 2024
Fry also mentioned McLaren would be a team to keep an eye on in the upcoming season. He hopes they can win races in 2024 and continue to improve.
However, he added he did not believe they were good enough to consistently beat Red Bull or Ferrari to vie for the championship. During the conversation, Fry interestingly completely snubbed his older employers as championship challengers.
The Brackley-based team finished second in the constructors’ championship last season but wasn’t able to register even a single win in 2023. Furthermore, despite finishing just one place below Red Bull, the Silver Arrows’ points tally (409) was less than half of what Red Bull accumulated throughout 2023 (860).
Mercedes to be no match for Red Bull in 2024
Nick Fry continued his statement by claiming Mercedes’ Technical Department had fallen too far behind for them to remain competitive in 2024. “I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think the technical team of my previous team, Mercedes, is strong enough,” he added.
Fry then added that he has little faith that the team will be able to keep up with Adrian Newey and his team at Red Bull, given their concept has failed them for the last two years. After dominating the track for eight straight years, Mercedes faced a sudden drop in their competitiveness once the new regulations came into effect, starting in 2022.
James Allison discusses the improvement of the W15 compared to the W14:
“We do have some hope for is that some of the more spiteful characteristics of the rear end of our car will be a bit more friendly to us, and the handling of the car a happier thing.”
“That’s all in… pic.twitter.com/k3hx6WpnMi
— Mercedes-AMG F1 News (@MercedesNewsUK) January 19, 2024
Since then, the team has won only one race and continues to struggle with coming up with a car capable of winning races. However, the hope within the Brackley-based team is that things will take a positive turn in 2024 as they will be coming up with an entirely new concept for the W15.
