The German producer has had a difficult 2023 marketing campaign, with its W14 not having made the step ahead that the squad anticipated.
It has been no match for the championship-winning Pink Bull workforce, regardless of present process a change of design route from the Monaco Grand Prix.
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The workforce has been open that for 2024 it would utterly change idea, because it bids to unlock a dramatic step ahead that it hopes can get it again within the struggle for victories.
Whereas a dramatic shift in route for subsequent 12 months means that there’s more likely to be little carry over from the W14, that doesn’t imply that Mercedes has deserted engaged on efforts to enhance its present automotive.
Workforce boss Toto Wolff has already revealed {that a} first rate improve is being deliberate for the USA Grand Prix.
However though any new elements arriving for the W14 is probably not taken on for subsequent 12 months, the workforce says there may be nonetheless quite a lot of studying about efficiency that may assist subsequent 12 months’s design.
Talking within the workforce’s common post-race evaluate video, Mercedes head of technique Rosie Wait opened up on why it didn’t make sense for the workforce to easily abandon work on the W14.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“While we should use the winter to make extra elementary developments to W15, there are many issues we are able to do with the present automotive which is able to each make it quicker and support our studying and understanding to develop subsequent 12 months’s automotive,” she mentioned.
“That is what we have already been doing and can proceed to do. So, the brand new elements we carry to the observe do each; hopefully add efficiency and make the present automotive go quicker, however they’re all particularly focused round areas the place we have to additional our understanding.
“The issues we’ll study from testing them this 12 months will straight feed into the event of the W15. We additionally mustn’t lose sight of the truth that we’re in a decent battle for P2 with Ferrari and that place within the championship is de facto necessary to all of us. So, we’ve got upgrades within the pipeline and can proceed to be bringing them to the automotive.”
Talking over the Japanese GP weekend, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin mentioned the workforce was listening to its drivers in making some daring modifications for 2024.
“We’re definitely not clinging on to any ideas that we’ve got had earlier than,” he mentioned. “We’re very open-minded.
“We have had a reasonably chastening couple of years, and we’re a workforce that is working very onerous to attempt to get again to the entrance.”