Mercedes, a team that was once known for their sheer dominance is currently winless in 13 F1 races. Since their win in Sao Paolo late last year, they have struggled to build momentum. This led to yet another underwhelming season, that currently sees them in P2, far behind Red Bull. Now with just 10 more races remaining for this campaign, James Allison, the Technical Director of the team has revealed that they are already focused on working for the 2024 Mercedes challenger.
Even though the Brackley-based team has made progress compared to where they were last season, they are still far behind Red Bull. So much so that even Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull is unmatchable as of now with a massive gap between the performance of their cars.
Black livery appreciation post. 🖤 pic.twitter.com/y2SwKCbXZX
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 11, 2023
For now, they are doing well in P2 in the Constructors’ standings but would have expected a lot more while planning things back at their factory. As things stand, the German team feels working on the future project could give them a headstart after a subpar show in 2023.
Allison gives away the all-important Mercedes updates
Speaking about Mercedes’ next step, James Allison revealed that the team is “heavily focused on 2024” at this point of the season. This has come at a time when there are still 10 races left for the 2023 season.
The Mercedes engineer said according to deni on Twitter, “Large chunks of the drawing office, vehicle dynamics, manufacturing for long-lead time production items are starting to gather their skirts.”
Black Magic. 🖤✨ The W14 and AMG ONE. pic.twitter.com/gjxrCWAIQm
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 7, 2023
“From the summer break onwards, next year’s car is where the largest call is answered. But that also gives opportunities for the W14 too,” he added. This, however, gives a huge hint towards how much development the W14 will be getting before the W15 comes out.
These developments might include the performance enhancements following the huge change in the sidepod and floor earlier this year. But interestingly, Red Bull is looking even stronger and is believed to stay miles ahead of its competitors despite the sizable efforts Mercedes is making.
Red Bull engineer’s massive revelation on the RB20
Red Bull is currently leading the world championship with a comfortable margin ahead of their rivals, with their mighty RB-19. However, the latest revelation by a Red Bull official possibly suggests that their dominant period is here to say.
Red Bull’s Head of Performance Engineering Ben Waterhouse stated in Talking Bull Podcast that their RB-20 for the upcoming 2024 F1 season will be ahead of the RB-19. This will be done in a similar way to how the RB-19 is way ahead of the RB-18, which helped them and Max Verstappen win both titles last year.
With a huge race pace advantage and mighty DRS effectiveness, Waterhouse is of the opinion Red Bull will build the RB-20, just the way they built the RB-19 by making thousands of small improvements this year. As a result, Max Verstappen and Red Bull may well win next year’s championship as well.
