Mercedes has ‘clear idea’ of where to find 2024 improvements

Mercedes has “a very clear idea” of what it needs to fix with its 2024 Formula 1 car to be competitive against Red Bull next season and the team has been buoyed by the work being made toward achieving it, according to technical director James Allison.

Red Bull’s domination over the past two seasons has come at a time where Mercedes has struggled under new technical regulations, changing its car concept mid-season. Currently second in the constructors’ championship, Mercedes faces competition from Ferrari and more recently McLaren this year, but Allison says the focus on 2024 has enabled the team to identify exactly what it needs to do in order to provide a clear step forward.

“I feel like all of us have got a pretty clear-sighted view of what we want to do with the car,” Allison said. “This championship, while we haven’t made the really impressive progress that say 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. That makes next year very exciting to look forward to -- and this period of the year extremely enjoyable.

“Over the years, most of the good cars that I’ve been lucky enough to be around when they’ve happened, the driver gets in it and doesn’t exactly say 'spend your bonus’ but they more or less do. And unlocking potential is not really something that takes very long if the car is well-born. That will be the aim with this one.”

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As part of its work for next year’s car, Mercedes will introduce an upgraded floor at this weekend's United States Grand Prix. While Allison says the new floor is likely to have some impact on current performance, it is more focused on longer-term goals.

“We’re bringing a modified floor … and hopefully it will give us a bit of lap time. But it is mostly a useful thing because it’s a bellwether for whether we’re on the right track," he said. "In lap time terms, it will be small. Useful but don’t expect us to have leapt past Max (Verstappen).”