“It doesn’t feel like we’re throwing good money away”: Mercedes ‘investing’ in both 2023 and the 2024 F1 season with upgrades

Mercedes F1 technical director James Allison mentioned that with the latest set of upgrades, it does not feel like the team is throwing away good money as they are investing in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The German team plans to bring their latest set of upgrades in the Belgian Grand Prix weekend at the end of the month to make a further push to get closer to Red Bull on the grid. Their latest upgrades did push them ahead of their rivals and claim second place in the championship this season.

Speaking with Motorsport Italy, Mercedes technical director said:

"We are only halfway through the season and there is still work to be done on these cars. There are definitely improvements we would like to make to our current car that we know will carry over to the 2024 car. So it doesn't feel like we're throwing good money away. The feeling is that with these updates, you're investing in both seasons. So for us, the updates will still be seen for a while."

"We'll see how things stabilize in the last quarter or last third of the season. We hope to have our nose in front of our rivals and be able to play a good second part of the season. We keep an eye on all the teams that update. Let's shoot lots of photos and let's try to understand what changes from race to race. We notice when something unusual comes along."

Mercedes F1 director praises McLaren for their latest upgrade package

Allison stated that the exciting part of McLaren's latest upgrades is that it has reflected in their lap times and got them in contentions for big points.

F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Practice & Qualifying

Mercedes man said:

"The interesting and unusual aspect of the update brought by McLaren is that the effect on lap times is quite strong. It is unusual to have a step forward of that magnitude in terms of relative competitiveness in the middle of a season. They did a good job, but this makes it interesting for us too, because we have the images before and after the introduction of their new products and we know that the effect on the lap time has been considerable".

“It is therefore worth paying more attention than usual when updating another competing team, because in this case we know that any change made has made a significant difference in the lap time.

It will be interesting to see if Mercedes follows the same suit as their rivals McLaren in the upcoming races.