Mercedes Technical Director James Allison has stressed that finishing second in the Constructors’ Championship’ in 2023 “really matters” for the team.
The German marque entered the campaign expecting to be back in title contention, having only picked up a solitary victory last season to drop to third in the standings.
But amid Red Bull’s dominance over the rest, Mercedes also slumped behind engine customer Aston Martin and Ferrari in the opening stages, prompting the side to abandon its ‘zeropod’ concept.
Since introducing more conventional sidepods alongside a raft of upgrades elsewhere on its W14, Mercedes has climbed the order to maintain a healthy 51-point advantage in second place.
However, McLaren’s resurgence at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix and Ferrari’s stronger showing in Belgium before the summer break signals that Mercedes has work to do to consolidate its position as the second force in the 2023 season.
“We started off with high hopes,” Allison reflected on Mercedes’ season.
“Initially our position relative to the front of the field took some getting used to, but the subsequent reaction by the team has been admirable.
“Quite early, we got a handle on what had gone wrong and have steadily been putting it right since.
“At the start of the year we were fourth quickest, looking at our customers who were beating us, and that was frustrating. Ferrari were beating us too.
“Little by little we are gradually putting them behind us. Everything is playing a part in it. From strategy to engineering, reliability, manufacturing and the drivers who are metronomic in their ability to turn half-opportunities into points.
“Although it falls short of our initial aims, securing P2 nevertheless really matters for all of us. Especially in the second half of the season when the tone will be shifting to the W15.”
Meanwhile, Chief Technical Officer Mike Elliot insists that any further progress Mercedes can make across the second half of this year will also be important for developing next season’s package.
“It’s important to show progress from last year and end the year strongly. We want to take the momentum into the winter,” Elliot added.
“Our aim is to win championships. Unfortunately, we are not in that position this year. But we want to be next year.
“We’ve got to get that balance right between getting all the learnings we can with our current car and trying to put most of our effort into next year’s car.
“We’re engineers and are interested in the technology. As Niki famously said, you learn more when you lose than when you are winning. I feel like it was a big learning journey through last year, and into this year.
“The hope is we’ve uncovered the learnings we need now, and we can keep developing in one direction.
“Sitting in my position, to look at things through a slightly wider lens, it’s nice to see the learnings. You then illuminate another bit of the path, and it gets clearer.”
