James Allison, Mercedes Formula 1 technical director, claims that drivers are now available for the team to help with development. Both Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, have dedicated their time to help resolve the issues for 2024.
The team has seen a big shift with availability of the drivers for better understanding of the issues. Both have provided their concerns and feedback to the engineers at the Brackley factory.
The new arrangement provide two-way communication which has helped the overall process.
He explained: “The race weekends, you get your greatest access to the drivers because you’re with each other for many hours.
“But it’s also a very fractious environment to interact. Because the pressure of doing well at the circuit means that it’s just slightly less objective than if you’re doing it back at home.
“The drivers have been good enough to put aside time for us in a slightly cooler environment of home.
“That has proved useful. It’s proved helpful for ranking the problems they have, for seeing the opportunities. And just making sure that the things that we are working on are well aligned with what they’re describing.”
Previously, Hamilton has expressed his concerns regarding W14 seating position. The W14 seat is closer to the front which hinders the driver ability to rightly assess the rear axle.
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However, Russell opted for softer tyres which helped him with his qualifying performances.
Allison asserted that Mercedes has a “very clear idea” of the areas that need addressal for 2024. He also claims of Mercedes “charting a path” for the right direction.
He believes that the team is in the right direction despite otherwise comments by the outside world. The team remained focus on the root cause and did not make in-season progress like McLaren.
He addedd: “I feel like all of us have a pretty clear-sighted view of what we want to do with the car.
“This championship, while we haven’t made the really impressive progress that McLaren have, we have nevertheless been charting a path through the season that gives us a very clear idea of what we need to put right.
“So that makes next year very exciting to look forward to and this period of the year extremely enjoyable.”
