Mercedes Excited For Next Season With Hamilton and Russell Involved In Development

Friday, 05 January 2024 at 14:00

Mercedes's technical director, James Allison, elaborated on his team's progress in relation to the development of the car for the 2024 season.

It is now clear Mercedes made two wrong decisions in a row going into seasons 2022 and 2023. However, the German team now claims to understand the problems and does not plan to repeat their mistakes.

As with multiple other teams on the grid, Silver Arrows are preparing a very significant change to their 2023 concept. As quoted by motorsport-total.com, the team's technical director, James Allison, said:

“"The car will be completely new and it is doubly important that the vehicle is good for 2024. The new rules for 2026 are slowly casting their shadow on us, and we have to build the corresponding car as early as 2025."”

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Due to changes in rules starting from season 2026, every F1 team will want to primarily focus on building a car that will suit the new regulations as soon as the winter break after the 2024 season hits.

“"The car from 2025 will, therefore, be closely related. It will be similar to the 2024 car. So we have to focus on developing a car that can be competitive in both world championships by 2026."”

The technical director also revealed Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both played significant roles when it came to defining the development direction for the upcoming season.

“"Of course, the drivers are most valuable to you on the race weekends, simply because that's where you spend the most time together."”

McLaren has been the team that made the greatest progress of all the teams on the grid in 2024. Even Max Verstappen acknowledged it and suggested the Papaya team might be the biggest threat during this year's season. Allison continued:

“"Even though we didn't make the same leap as McLaren last season, we still got a clear idea during the season of the areas in which we need to improve."”

Mercedes's technical director, who replaced Mike Eliott during the year 2023, suggested Mercedes can also make significant progress as it doesn't take long to unlock the car's full potential with a good vehicle.

“"That's what makes the coming season so exciting for us and the current development phase so exciting. If you build a good vehicle, it doesn't take long to unlock its full potential."”