Mercedes has provided an insight into the “intense” period that occurs within its factories as preparations ramp up towards the launch of its 2024 Formula 1 car next month.
The German marque is aiming to recover from enduring another challenging campaign last term, which concluded with the side going winless for the first time since 2011.
Although it moved up one spot to second in the Constructors’ Championship in 2023, Mercedes trailed a sizeable 451 points behind Red Bull, who won all but one race.
Mercedes has previously revealed that it is pressing ahead with a revised car concept for its W15 challenger, which will be unveiled on 14 February at the Silverstone circuit.
With less than a month until the cover is pulled off the team’s latest machine, Mercedes Chief Operating Officer Rob Thomas has explained the processes involved in assembling a modern F1 car.
“There are literally thousands and thousands of components arriving, going through inspection and levels of testing,” Thomas told the official Mercedes F1 website.
“Then they’re built into various sub-assemblies for the Test and Development department, who’ll put them through tests for fatigue, reliability and performance.
“It’s a really intense time for people in the factory because these departments are operating on shift patterns 24/7. People show huge levels of commitment.
“There’s so much going on and everything must come together for these deadlines.”
Thomas, who joined Mercedes’ F1 set-up in 2010, has admitted his initial years with the Brackley-based squad were unorganised and resulted in compromised targets being met.
“There were detailed plans [when I arrived], but they weren’t really respected,” Thomas elucidated. “A lot of internal dates were a bit optional, and we’d do our best to hit those deadlines, but generally we didn’t.
“Things got later and later and what you ended up was people working in a chaotic firefighting way, trying to get parts together.
“We wouldn’t get either the result we needed from performance or reliability either.
“That all leads to going to the first races in a massively sub-optimal condition, not getting the learning you want and leading to people being burnt out.”
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