George Russell Provides a Glimpse Into 2024 Mercedes Challenger With His Fingers Crossed

In 2022, Mercedes saw a drastic fall in performance, owing majorly to the ground effect regulations. The same issue persists for the team in 2023, and despite back-to-back strong outings in Austin and Mexico City, the team is back to square one after a dismal showing from George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in Sao Paulo.

 

With a poor development route and extra tire deg, the team couldn’t do much but see car after car surpass theirs with ease. Nonetheless, Russell is confident in the team’s vision for the 2024 season and believes they will be off to a much better start next year than the last two, as quoted by RaceFans.

“Going into the third year now, I’m confident we’re not going to make those same mistakes. I’m confident we’ve got some good gains over this winter that we’re finding it at the moment, but it’s a relative game and we don’t know what our rivals are going to bring.”

Despite the struggles of 2022, Mercedes decided to stick with their ground effect concept but brought in major changes to the car’s model. Noting the same, Russell claims that while the mechanical aspect of the car remains the same, the aerodynamic elements have drastically changed, adding to the car’s performance from last year. With positive upgrades starting to come their way, Lewis Hamilton has handed his team another challenge for the 2024 season.

With George Russell hopeful, Lewis Hamilton hands his team a major challenge

Following the Japanese GP, Hamilton called for his team to put in the “greatest six months of development” so they could get back to challenging Red Bull and Max Verstappen for their respective titles. The Briton wanted his team to move away from the zero-sidepod concept at the beginning of 2023, but they did not listen. Now, Wolff has admitted they will certainly go in another direction for the 2024 season. Wanting his team to get to work as soon as possible, the Briton revealed he has given very specific instructions for the car’s development. “There are things that I’ve asked for that we’ve done in part of the direction for next year. I think all the points that George [Russell] and I give have been fully listened to.”

Unaware of the direction the W15 is heading in, Hamilton is hopeful of an overdrive effort by his team so they can quickly close out the gap between them and Red Bull. Having fallen drastically since the infamous AD21 incident, Mercedes needs to make the most of this window so they can start climbing the ladder to become the best.

Widely considered the greatest of all time, Hamilton has failed to win a race since 2021, and it looks likely it won’t come this season either. As such, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the Mercedes mechanics to build him a car that can hand him a record-extending and drought-ending 104th career race win.