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Mercedes enter the 2024 F1 season on the back of their first winless season since 2011. The team has truly hit a stumbling block ever since the sport decided to introduce ground effects for the cars.
Since then, a team that won the title for eight consecutive years has only won a single race in two years. Heads have rolled and people have left the team in these two years. At the same, a few have returned as well. This is where the team finds itself right now, and everyone is keeping an eye on what the team could achieve in 2024.
The team improved from P3 in 2022 to P2 in 2023. Could 2024 be better and maybe result in a title challenge? Let's take a look.
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2024 F1 Team Preview: Mercedes
Outlook for 2024
There's one thing that could make the team personnel and the drivers excited. Last season, the two teams that made substantial progress were McLaren and Aston Martin. One thing that stood out for both is that the two teams were the earlier adapters of the Red Bull car concept.
Mercedes persisted with the notoriously unreliable zero sidepod concept, and by the first race, it was clear that the approach was incorrect. Mercedes switched lanes quickly in 2023 and car development was going to be more in line with Red Bull's concept from then.
The team did bring in upgrades that took the car closer to Red Bull's concept but since the suspension structure could not be tinkered with, the overall adaptation was just not possible.
If Mercedes could finish the championship second with a less-than-optimal car then it could surely make the jump when adaptation to the Red Bull concept is more coherent.
Where does it fit in the pecking order?
When it comes to the pecking order, it is a crucial question because while one can expect Mercedes to be in the front-running group, where would it ideally find itself? There are two scenarios at play here. The first is that the teams take some time to get used to the complete switch in car concept. In that case, it might cede advantage to its competitors.
On the other hand, we could even see Mercedes emerge as the primary rival for Red Bull if everything falls in place for the team in terms of car development. In essence, one can expect the German squad to take a step closer to Red Bull at the front this season. Will the team challenge for the title? This might be a bit of wishful thinking at the moment as the gap was just too big last season.
Driver line-up dynamics
For Mercedes, this is the more interesting bit because Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's performance has been neck-and-neck over the last two years. Russell had the edge in 2022 while Hamilton got the better of him in 2023.
The 2024 F1 season will be close once again between the two drivers. There might be a few flashpoints as Russell finally starts to assert himself within the team. Overall, since the title is not at play here, we might not see much conflict as the two drivers try to secure the best possible result in races.
