Former Jaguar and Jordan technical director Gary Anderson has claimed that Mercedes don’t know where they are going wrong, telling team principal Toto Wolff that his team need to start maximising their package and heading towards Red Bull’s design philosophy.
The Japanese Grand Prix represented a miserable weekend for the Silver Arrows as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell left everything out on the track, only to come home in P5 and P7 respectively.
Mercedes’ lead driver took the chequered flag with a 50-second deficit to race winner and champion-to-be Max Verstappen, while both McLaren drivers were comfortably ahead of Hamilton and Russell as they secured a double podium. Considering where the two teams started the season, this will be extremely alarming for Toto.
Writing in his Telegraph column, Anderson claimed: “McLaren, meanwhile, have shifted away from their previous concept in this area to one that essentially looks like the Red Bull, but then you also need to understand the design philosophy to get the best from it.
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“At a track like Suzuka, which is a real test of a car, McLaren qualified and finished second and third to Verstappen. The visual concept is something that makes the car work, but you have to do all the other non-visual stuff with it too, like understanding the detail on the under-floor.
“McLaren seem to understand that well now after their woeful start. Becoming Red Bull-alikes, if you will, has taken them (and other teams) forward. This is the main area where Mercedes are lost.
“If they are going to start again with their car, they need to begin in this area. Yet even taking all that into consideration, they are not getting the best out of their car for what it is currently, which is where Ferrari have improved.”
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for Wolff and Mercedes, and there are signs that the Austrian is working towards the points made by Anderson. The Brackley-based team have already halted their development of the W14, instead switching attention to next year’s car.
McLaren, Haas and Aston Martin are all at different points in their transitions to a Red Bull-like design philosophy, and Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz pointed out during the Japanese GP weekend that he expects Mercedes to follow suit for 2024.
