Mercedes has been going through a rough phase since last year. The former champions have managed to win only in Brazil since 2022. They’ve been winless in 2023 so far. Only five more races to go, and the Brackley team is fighting to secure a P2 finish. But it is getting tougher to secure with every race as Ferrari and McLaren are gaining much more pace than Toto Wolff’s team. Hence, Mercedes will come up with one more significant upgrade this season to see if they get better results.
Toto Wolff and James Allison mentioned Mercedes will modify their floor for the US Grand Prix. That would be the last significant upgrade for Mercedes this year. Recently, on the F1 Nation podcast, James Allison told Damon Hill and Tom Clarkson what the new upgrades are about. Fans and experts are curious if the new upgrade will give W14 more pace or will just help the team figure out its design for the next season.
James Allison Hopes Mercedes Will Move In The Right Direction With New Floors
Moreover, the Technical Director of Mercedes mentioned the modified floor won’t help much with the pace or the design for next year. But the team presumes this upgrade should be good on any track for the rest of the year. The upgrade might not be transformative, but it is about a tenth of a second. Moreover, James Allison mentioned whatever the team thinks is decent, and the upgrade should work in that direction. Allison says the new floor should produce downforce in Austin and the right places.
Moreover, the team hopes the modified floor will create resistance to the porpoising issues that happened after the team tried to get more downforce from the car. But James Allison points out that Mercedes was ahead of McLaren in the Qatar Grand Prix. And if it was not for the clash of the two Merc cars, they could have had a better finish. James Allison said there is a fair share of excitement for the team lying ahead. What if they are right about where they are heading? Then, can Mercedes walk the past fast enough to beat their rivals in the next several months?
The Brackley Team Need To Fix Their Issue With Downforce
Moreover, the W14 car has not been very successful for the German team. However, it has reduced the porpoising issues that its predecessor had last season. Nevertheless, Mercedes will push the 2023 car to its limit until the final race of the season. Moreover, they need as much information and data as they can gather to start developing the 2024 car. The Mercedes F1 team believes they still have a lot to understand about the car before they start with the W15’s design and aerodynamics.
Moreover, in 2023, the car of the German team struggled with the downforce mostly. For instance, in high downforce circuits, the car would do well, like in Barcelona, Marina Bay, Silverstone, and so on. However, the W14 car would struggle in low downforce circuits like in Spa, Zandvoort, Austrian and Japanese Grand Prix, and so on.
