Mercedes Technical Director James Allison has given an update on the new floor the team is introducing on the W14 for this weekend’s US Grand Prix, revealing the performance improvement they can expect in Austin.
Currently involved in an intense battle with Ferrari for second place in the Constructors’ World Championship, the Mercedes team cannot afford to rest on its laurels and must continue to improve its single-seater, while McLaren is also showing its face after making significant progress in recent races.
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Mercedes reveals its expectations with the new floor
This weekend in Austin, Mercedes will introduce an improved floor on the W14 of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, and James Allison estimates that the gain could be as much as a tenth of a second per lap:
“That should be good on any circuit for the rest of the year,” explained the Briton on the F1 Nation podcast about the new floor.
“It’s not a transformation, it should cost about a tenth of a second. It’s a direction we think is decent, both to produce downforce in the right place and hopefully to resist the bounce that all these cars can get as soon as you try to get more downforce.”
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Allison: McLaren is the threat
With Mercedes battling it out with Ferrari, who they lead by 28 points going into the US Grand Prix, Allison admits that the eyes are also on McLaren, who have just secured back-to-back double podium finishes in Japan and Qatar.
Asked if he thinks Mercedes will be faster than McLaren from Austin this weekend, James Allison replied:
“On a Suzuka-type track, they have the advantage over us. On a slower track, maybe we have some things they don’t, but I’m not sure what they have left to bring to the car [update].”
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“Hopefully the floor we are going to fit to the car at the next race in Austin can take us to the next level in one of the races to come.”
The new floor introduced on the W14 from the US Grand Prix is all the more important as Mercedes will analyse the data gathered over the next few races to see what direction to take in the development of the future W15 for the 2024 season.
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In a day’s time, we will know if there is substance in these claims or if it is the customary
empty talk. This has been going on for 2 years. The only thing it has given is an opening for Hamilton to once again throw the team under the bus for his own inept driving though the car is already as fast as Red Bull.
I am eager to see what new insults Hamilton is going to spew on everyone around!
Must…. Ignore…. Vijay’s…. Nonsense…..
Out of interest Vijay, do you post anywhere else about F1, or just here?