Mercedes technical director James Allison has claimed that the performance of the team’s latest upgrade package is very encouraging in what has been a critical step forward for Lewis Hamilton’s 2024 season preparations.
The Silver Arrows have struggled to make consistent progress in the development race relative to newly-crowned, back-to-back constructor champions Red Bull this season with McLaren and Ferrari a constant threat to Hamilton and team-mate George Russell this season.
However, in Austin two weeks ago the team introduced a new floor upgrade that will play a major role in shaping the development of the W15 – next season’s challenger. This upgrade has been immediately successful, allowing Hamilton to finish second on track at both the United States and Mexican Grands Prix.
Addressing the upgrades after the Mexican GP, Allison explained: “Well, if we look at the performance in Austin, and we look at the performance here [in Mexico], being able to race cars like McLaren, Ferrari effectively, we’d say that the track data is definitely suggesting that we’ve made a forward step.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
“Now bear in mind that all the top two teams have been bringing updates to the car over the last few races, it is crucial that you can match them on development, even better them to be able to continue to fight them on track.
“The other thing is we collect a lot of data off the car. So pressures off the floor, pressures off the wings, loads on the car and all that data is correlating really well with what we’re seeing in the wind tunnel.
“And that’s crucial for next year because this floor is actually a step towards the development direction that we want to take for 2024. So very encouraging signs, but still a lot of work ahead of us.”
This will be music to the ears of Hamilton who has been keen to encourage but also spur on the team back at the factory in Brackley as he strings together podiums to end his season. The seven-time world champion’s impressive form means that Mercedes head into the final three races of the campaign with a 22-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari.
While Hamilton naturally has his sights set on a title fight with Verstappen in 2024, he can still cause Red Bull some pain in 2023. The 38-year-old now trails Sergio Perez by just 20 points as he looks to prevent the Milton Keynes-based team from securing their first-ever one-two finish in the Drivers’ Championship.
