Mercedes is banking on the debut of a fresh floor upgrade at the forthcoming F1 United States Grand Prix to signal that they are moving in the right direction.
Although Mercedes has shifted its focus towards bridging the gap to Red Bull in the upcoming winter season, with significant advancements being made on their 2024 challenger, they haven’t entirely abandoned the development of the W14.
Their decision to introduce a new floor for the upcoming US Grand Prix in Austin is significant not just for its potential immediate performance gains but also for what it symbolizes in their ongoing efforts.
“Hopefully it will give us a bit of lap time,” said James Allison.“That’s always a benefit.
He continued:“But it is mostly a useful thing because it’s a bellwether for whether we’re on the right track.
“In lap time terms, it will be small. Useful, but don’t expect us to have leapt past Max [Verstappen].”
The struggles of Mercedes’ W13 and W14 cars in the 2022 and 2023 campaigns have prompted the team to opt for a significant redesign as they prepare for the upcoming season.
James Allison, the Mercedes technical director stated that Mercedes has now gained a well-defined understanding of the necessary corrections they need to make.
“I think that much of what ails us now is reasonably well-understood and we’re working to fix that,” he explained.
“I feel like all of us got a pretty clear-sighted view of what we want to do with the car. This championship, while we haven’t made the really impressive progress that McLaren have, we have nevertheless been charting a path through the season that gives us a very clear idea of what we need to put right.
“So that makes the next years fun, very exciting to look forward to, and actually this period of the year extremely enjoyable.”
