Mercedes Confident In Their Drivers' Ability To Win Championship In 2024
F1Thursday, 18 January 2024 at 01:00
The technical director of the Mercedes Formula One team, James Allison, expressed his team's trust in their driver pairing in a recent interview.
Mercedes driver duo consists of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The two drivers together have only won one Grand Prix throughout the last two seasons.
However, Mercedes's technical director believes it wasn't their fault. The two drivers were not provided with Championship-contending cars.
Therefore, both collected multiple podiums, but none of them was able to match the incredibly consistent Max Verstappen in the dominant Red Bull. Allison told Sky Sports F1:
"They need us to provide them with the equipment. But Lewis has proved seven times that he is World Championship material, and he was the highest-scoring non-Red Bull driver [in 2023]."
Former F1 driver Christijan Albers recently suggested the seven-time World Champion is the only one who could come close to Verstappen in terms of consistency and tire management.
Four teams that finished behind Red Bull were quite equally matched over the course of the season, and Hamulton's third place in the Championship proves he was the most consistent of the drivers outside of Red Bull.
"George made one or two errors during [2023], but equally, you've seen very strong performances from him in a number of races, and it has been quite a good learning experience for him in his second season with us."
While 2023 was the 25-year-old's toughest season in his career, he showed in 2022 that he could match the pace of his more experienced teammate.
Allison is confident the only missing piece to their puzzle is a competitive car, and the Mercedes driver duo has the ability to take care of the rest and secure the Championship. He added:
"I'm certain that both men, with the right equipment, could be World Champions if they fought hard and well enough."
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