Mercedes’ technical director has no doubts that they can still make a winner out of this year’s car and a championship contender out of the 2024 car.
Mercedes has taken a new direction with its car with the improvements debuted in Monaco, and the team increasingly feels this has also turned their season in a new direction. After a double podium finish in Barcelona, they’re cautious about their expectations in Canada, and say the course doesn’t suit them. As their optimistic statements suggest in Spain, they may really have found the right track.
Returning technical director James Allison confirmed Lewis Hamilton’s account on Thursday that their team has been buoyed by recent success. “Obviously I liked the result in Barcelona, it put a smile on everyone’s face. But it’s too early to say that summer has arrived after the swallows have arrived. Anyway, we all enjoyed having a car that had strong pace and good tire handling, as well as two podium finishes. Coronation. Hopefully we’ve made some kind of turnaround, but this track requires something different from the car. Anyway, we’re on the rise.” Briton said at the Canadian press conference on Friday.
On improving the car, he added: “They were satisfied a bit more with the braking distances, but we still had a lot to do to compete with the front of the field. Not only did I feel it was a pretty car, it paced well, the balance wasn’t bad either, and the development guys had good feedback for their work.”
the Sky Sports Should we still expect victory from W14, he said:
“Can this car be competitive enough to win a race this year? Yes, I would say it can. And if we do things right the rest of the year and the years in between, can we compete for the championship next year? Even more!”
In theory, they could also be helped to catch up by the fact that Red Bull is getting a lot more development time in the wind tunnel and with CFD. In this respect, of course, they have been leading since last July, but Red Bull has become the dominant car. Allison admitted that it was a little annoying for them. “We’re trying to do the best we can with the development time we have available. We don’t really care about the fact that those behind us have more and those in front have less.”
“In terms of missed opportunity, you can’t really separate the development time from the rest of the resources we’re putting into the current car, which obviously isn’t as competitive as Red Bull. As long as that’s the case, we’re obviously going to be a little bit pissed about that, though. It makes up for the dissatisfaction we feel when they win, it’s exciting in its own way to keep our car and improve it week after week.”
“It is also clear to us that it is not their God-given right to be at the top. They are there because they deserve it, because they are doing so well, and if we did the same, or even do better, we would be there.”
“It’s actually very fun, and it’s a very refreshing idea if you get it right. And that’s what we’re going for, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.” – hinted that if Red Bull can make it happen, so can they.
