Lewis Hamilton edged Max Verstappen to the front slot on the grid by 0.003 seconds at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, giving the German manufacturer its first pole position of the year.
Verstappen’s Red Bull, on the other hand, was no match for Hamilton’s Mercedes W14 in the race, and he slid down the standings to finish fourth by the checkered flag – almost 40 seconds behind the victor.
Toto Wolff from Mercedes acknowledges Red Bull is in a different F1 class.
Verstappen is in a league of his own, finishing the Hungarian race 33 seconds ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren. It is obvious that Red Bull’s competitors must significantly improve their vehicles this winter.
For its W15, Mercedes has previously mentioned making some significant alterations, and team manager Toto Wolff has now revealed just how different things may be.
Wolff added that a thorough review of the various strategies that other teams were employing was now being done with regard to the differences that are being worked on for 2024.
“I think we need a lot of changes in 2024, and the direction our team is developing is really quite interesting,” he said.
“We are not afraid of anything because we see opportunities. We are investigating every avenue and considering every idea we have seen on other autos.
“That is, without allowing ourselves to get diverted from the way we function and the way we assess, whether that is powerful or not, and whether it is of any help for us. We’re going to perform well.
Michael Potts/Motorsport Images provided the image.
The sidepod design has historically been the main topic of discussion regarding concept change at Mercedes from the outside, but the team’s engineers have a somewhat different perspective.
Instead, they envision a concept change that centres on how the car is configured and driven, particularly how it moves across the course.