Mercedes is set to introduce an updated floor for its W14 at the upcoming 2023 US Grand Prix, and this development is expected to serve as a valuable indicator of the team’s 2024 progress.
While the primary goal of this upgrade is to enhance the car’s performance, Mercedes‘ Technical Director, James Allison, sees it as a litmus test to confirm that they are moving in the right direction.
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“Hopefully, it will give us a bit of lap time. That’s always a benefit.
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].”
Technical Director, James Allison
This update doesn’t target specific track types or attempt to address a wide range of issues with the W14. Instead, it’s hoped that it will set the foundations for improvements in the way that Formula 1’s current cars rely on ground effect to generate downforce.
Allison elaborated on this, saying:
“I think that much of what ails us now is reasonably well-understood and we’re working to fix that.”
Technical Director, James Allison
However he warned that “time will tell” whether these fixes make it onto the car and prove successful.
“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.”
Technical Director, James Allison
Meanwhile, Haas, another Formula 1 team, is not to be left behind. Despite falling to ninth place in the championship last weekend, they are gearing up to introduce a substantial package of changes to their car at the Circuit of the Americas race, aiming to make significant strides in performance and competitiveness.
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