Mercedes will not compromise their 2014 development programme in order to throw everything at the championship this season, team principal Ross Brawn has stated.
The Brackley based outfit has emerged as a real championship contender despite a tough start to the season. Of the last five races, Mercedes have won three and have claimed eight pole positions in total.
Whilst Mercedes have closed the gap to Red Bull and have emerged as their nearest rival for the title, Brawn says they won’t throw everything at 2013 if its compromises their development programme for next season.
“We’re not thinking in terms of winning the championship,” he said. “I don’t want that to sound like we don’t want to win the championship, of course we do, but we’re not compromising our 2014 programme.
“Our 2014 programme is well defined, in good shape and progressing well. There are some big challenges remaining but we are certainly not going to compromise that. There is always a float of people you can move around a bit and that is what we are working with. We want to try and win as many race weekends as we can, but we don’t want to compromise the 2014 programme.”
They won’t however totally abandon development of the W04 confirmed Brawn.
“We’re not changing our approach and I think that’s the important thing. I think we have a very good programme, with the 2014 car is progressing well and lots of our team is focused on that and won’t be distracted from that. There are a small amount of things we can do for the rest of this year and a number of things we will continue with. The reality is that if you are in a position where you abandon the season, it’s normally because you don’t have a very good car. Fortunately we have a good car this year and we want to keep it going.”
