Mercedes arrives in Brazil already looking to the future, in particular to 2024 where many hopes are concentrated in an attempt to get back on top and progressively get closer to Red Bull. A challenge that was anything but simple, because the Milton Keynes team started the year with a large advantage, which then allowed them to slow down the development of the RB19 to focus on next year’s single-seater.
For Mercedes, 2023 represented a year of transition, not only because it chose to modify its concept, saying goodbye to the zero pod philosophy that had so amazed in the 2022 tests, but also for a different approach regarding strategic choices in development of the 2024 single-seater.
The German manufacturer is currently going through a good period of form, especially in terms of race pace: Qatar, Austin and Mexico have given comforting indications, even if two of the three events were somehow compromised by accidents or disqualifications. More overall, what gives confidence is that the update to the fund brought to the United States has given the desired signals, especially in terms of increased aerodynamic load.
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George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Also last year Mercedes made a good leap forward in the final part of the season. In that case, what also played an important role was the fact that the Brackley team showed up with an even more substantial package in Austin, while their rivals were already focused on 2023. Those technical innovations helped make a big leap forward, which was in addition to all the behind-the-scenes work to understand the porpoising issue that had slowed development of the W13.
Russell, however, believes that the team is in a very different situation compared to 12 months ago, especially as the team has understood what went wrong with this year’s project: “What has put us in difficulty this year is “It was the winter development. We went in the wrong direction. We made some mistakes. This was evident as soon as we hit the track in Bahrain. So, going into the third year, I am confident that we will not make the same mistakes,” explained the British, underlining how there was a certain rush in approaching the W14, so much so that certain solutions were validated without even an in-depth simulator study.
Russell said his confidence comes from the fact that he sees a totally different approach from the team in terms of working out improvements to the car: “Because I think after 12 months we have 12 months more information and guidance. We’ve managed to implement some of the changes we want for 2024 in some tests this year, and they’re working as expected. I think the work we’re doing for 2024 has been much more thorough in evaluating every single decision.”
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George Russell, Mercedes-AMG
“The car was nowhere near what we wanted for the final season and we felt that a lot of things needed to be changed. Maybe we made a couple of hasty decisions without having tested them thoroughly in the simulator, analyzing the potential consequences. Last year we tried a lot of different things and we preferred quantity over quality of testing,” added Russell.
“This year we’ve really fine-tuned the direction we want to go. We’ve thoroughly tested the process to make sure that this is the direction we’ve taken. So I’m confident that, 12 months on, we’ve learned something in these two years “.
“I think and hope that next year we won’t be surprised by anything. This doesn’t mean that we will have the fastest car on the grid. It just means that I don’t think we will stumble at the first obstacle.”
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