Mercedes will unveil its final major upgrade of the season at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix as it starts to build for its assault on next year’s F1 titles.
After recognising very early on in the campaign it had to take a different direction with its car, Mercedes has steadily attempted to build on that development route.
The team remains without a victory this year and has just five grands prix remaining to rectify that situation and avoid its first winless season since 2011.
For Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, the W14s of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will sport a modified floor.
Team principal Toto Wolff said: “It is the last significant update we will take to the track this year, and it will hopefully bring a small gain but more importantly, is another milestone in setting our development path for W15.”
Initially, it will play a small part in Mercedes’ bid to at least claim second place in the constructors’ championship, a “battle”, Wolff claims “has become more intense in recent races”.
That is on the back of McLaren’s resurgence as the team has thrust itself towards the front of the grid.
At present, it is not expected McLaren will threaten either Mercedes and Ferrari who are just 26 points apart, with the latter 81 points of the team from Woking, although Oscar Piastri has stated he is not giving up the fight to catch the Scuderia.
Wolff insists Mercedes “will keep pushing” to secure a semblance of respectability from a season in which Red Bull has been crushingly dominant to such an extent that newly-crowned triple champion Max Verstappen could have won the constructors’ championship on his own.
Wolff needs both Hamilton and Russell singing from the hymn sheet for the team to achieve its aims, which was not the case at the last race in Qatar when the duo collided at the first corner, sending the seven-time champion out of the race.
As the senior team member, Hamilton took responsibility for the incident after which he and Russell made clear there was no ill feeling between the duo.
Wolff is confident lessons have been learned, adding: “The last round in Qatar was a case of what might have been.
“As a team, you never want to see your cars collide. It was frustrating to leave a lot of points on the table, particularly as the pace of the car was strong.
“It was encouraging, though, to see how the drivers and the team reacted. Both Lewis and George know the team comes first and do not ever intend to jeopardise that.
“I am sure we will all grow from this moment. We’re now focused on Austin and making sure we get the most out of each upcoming weekend.”
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