Mercedes Formula 1 team opted for an otherwise strategy to keep investing in current F1 car. It believes that further up-gradation results out valued the investment despite major fundamental redesign in 2024.
The German team struggled to find a solution to its woes in 2023 campaign. Its W14 challenger failed to yield the anticipated results for the team.
The Red Bull F1 car, RB19, remained flawless in all the segments and in all the track. Its rivals could not challenge its dominance except in Singapore Grand Prix.
Read More:Red Bull must try to keep replicating 2023 season
The team remained open about complete redeg in 2024 in a bid to compete for championship.
Nonetheless, Rosie Wiat, Mercedes head of strategy, explained why the team decided to not shift its focus entirely from the W14.
“Whilst we will have to use the winter to make more fundamental developments to W15, there are plenty of things we can do with the current car. It will both make it faster and aid our learning and understanding to develop next year’s car,” she said.
“That’s what we’ve already been doing and will continue to do. So, the new parts we bring to the track do both. Hopefully add performance and make the current car go faster. But they are all specifically targeted around areas where we need to further our understanding.
“The things we will learn from testing them this year will directly feed into the development of the W15. We also mustn’t lose sight of the fact that we are in a tight battle for P2 with Ferrari. And that position in the championship is really important to all of us. So, we have upgrades in the pipeline and will continue to be bringing them to the car.”
Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes trackside engineering director, claims that the team is working closely with its drivers to redesign its car for 2024.
“We’re certainly not clinging on to any concepts that we have had before,” he said. “We’re very open-minded.
“We’ve had a pretty chastening couple of years, and we are a team that’s working very hard to try and get back to the front.”
