Mercedes is to pore over images of the recently upgraded McLaren to see whether the developments that turned heads across the British Grand Prix weekend can be applied to the W14.
The final step of a three-pronged upgrade package will be unveiled across the Hungarian GP weekend after a new floor, engine cover and sidepods were seen in Austria, followed by a new front wing and nose assembly at Silverstone.
The leap in performance was considerable as Lando Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri qualified second and third before going on to finish runner-up and fourth respectively, with the Australian’s bid for a podium compromised by a safety car after Kevin Magnussen’s Haas suffered a power unit failure and caught fire.
Lewis Hamilton managed to sandwich himself in between the McLaren duo by the chequeredc flag as the same safety car played into his hands.
Mercedes technical director James Allison insists the team has been left intrigued by McLaren’s performance improvement and will now be studying the MCL60 intently.
“All of the teams, as they upgrade, we keep an eye on them,” said Allison. “We take loads and loads of photos, and we try and figure out what changes from race to race, and we note when something new or unusual comes along.
“The interesting and unusual thing about the McLaren upgrade is that its lap-time effect is quite strong. It’s pretty unusual to have a step of that size of relative competitiveness in the middle of a season and chapeau to them. They’ve done a really good piece of work there.
“But that also makes it interesting for us because we have the before and after shots and we know the lap-time effect was big, so it’s well worth us paying more attention than we normally might to another competitor team’s upgrades.
“In this case, we know that whatever changed has made a meaningful difference to their lap time, so quite useful for us to know what that was and see whether it can play into our thoughts of developing our own car.”
Allison, however, is fully expecting the order behind champions Red Bull to alternate with each passing race weekend, and as each team rolls out an update of significance.
That has proven to be the case over the last four events, with Mercedes strong in Barcelona, followed by Aston Martin in Canada, Ferrari in Austria, and then McLaren at Silverstone.
Allison is hopeful that with what is due on the car over the coming months, it will enable it to claim the best-of-the-rest tag by the end of the year and provide a platform for a more concerted challenge in 2024.
Asked whether the upgrade race would provide Mercedes with an opportunity to establish a lead in what is a very closely-knit bunch, he replied: “The simple answer is yes.
“We are only just around about halfway through the season and there is plenty more development to come in these cars.
“All of the teams will, of course, be turning their attention to next year and that will ‘defang’ all of us a little bit in terms of the rate at which we can improve our cars.
“But for each of us, and for us absolutely, there are improvements we would like to make on our current car that we know will also carry into next year, so it doesn’t feel like throwing good money after bad. It feels like you are investing in both seasons with those upgrades.
“For us, yes, you will see the upgrades coming for a little while longer. I suspect for the others, too.
“What you will get in this next sequence of races is a little bit of yo-yo-ing for position in a very closely packed bunch as upgrades make the difference for one team for a while until someone else will come out of sequence with another upgrade a race or two later to even things back out.
“Whether it will all settle down for the final quarter, one-third of a season, we will see. Hopefully, we will have our noses in front and be able to have a strong second half of the season.”
Discussion about this post