Ten races at the end of a championship with an already written outcome. With Red Bull having already mortgaged both world titles, the competition is faced with the usual dilemma: develop the current car until the end of the year or divert all resources to the 2024 project. A question of philosophies, but also of priorities. If in fact it is true that with stable regulations any gain in 2023 will have repercussions on next year, in some cases the delay from the top can only be made up through a drastic change.
Stable regulations
The conspicuous porpoising problems experienced in 2022 led the FIA to change the regulations in view of the current season. The changes to the floor encouraged the teams to go down with the ride heights, in some cases forcing them to develop a new concept. It will not be like this for 2024, whose regulations will be identical to the current ones, barring twists and turns. Regulatory stability encourages teams to bring updates between now and the end of the yearaware that any profit can be transferred to the next car.
This is the case of Ferrari, of which important updates are expected between Singapore and Suzuka, despite Vasseur having anticipated that the chassis and transmission will be redone on the next Ferrari. However, not everyone shares the same approach. Alex Albon offers an alternative perspective: “Next year the regulations will be the same. On paper, everything you bring in your car this year will come in handy, because it all adds up. However, if you want to change the characteristics and behavior of your machine, it takes time. I think we’re doing the right thing to focus all our attention on next year.”
Radical changes
Williams is a special case. For years now the team has been battling problems with the balance and behavior of the car which have also been handed down between the regulations. “We have of the characteristic problems in our car for some years now, even before I joined the team”, Albon explains. “When we talk about the car, it’s something that comes up again and again, because the limitations are the same.”
To deal with a similar problem it is necessary to rethink the project. For those aiming for a revolution in 2024 rather than an evolution of the current machine, interrupting development in 2023 is more necessary than ever. “Look at McLaren: that’s the kind of leap we want to make”, comments Albon. “Think about how long it took them to do it. They brought virtually no updates all season until Silverstone. It seems that we worked on those changes for a year. Aston Martin also sacrificed everything last year to make that leap over the winter. You need these long-term projects.”
The second half of the season promises to be characterized from two strands of development. Who like Ferrari will bring important updates at least until October, are opposed by teams that instead will save resources in favor of 2024. Among these is Mercedes, with Toto Wolff who announced that the work on the W14 between now and the end of the year will focus above all on the trim. However, the Brackley team is not the only one, since even Red Bull, thanks to its advantage in the standings, has been concentrating on the heir to the RB19 for some time now.
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