In the round-up: Toto Wolff says that Mercedes are changing their entire car for 2024
In brief
Mercedes changing ‘literally almost every component’
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says that his team will change almost every part of their car for the 2024 season.
The team finished second in the constructors’ championship last year, far behind rivals Red Bull, after sticking with their ‘zero sidepods’ aerodynamic concept
We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the airflow. Literally, there’s almost every component that’s been changed, because only by doing that I think we have a chance. We could get it wrong also.
FIA “pretty strict” on wind tunnel compliance
Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough says that there are robust systems in place to prevent wind tunnel data transfer between them and Mercedes as they used the Mercedes facility during construction of their new wind tunnel.“The FIA are pretty strict and do a lot of inspections and all that stuff,” McCullough said. “Dominic Harlow comes and visits the teams.
“For us with Mercedes, it is absolutely shut down to one, open to the other. Different access doors, different people running the sessions. So I think from confidentiality things, obviously with the relationship we have with Mercedes it’s very robust from that side. And the FIA, that’s their job to police all that.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Ferrari biopic puts viewers in the driver’s seat (The Age)
Patrick Dempsey: ''Why I think the movie is so good is that it captures the essence of racing. Which is that it takes such a toll on family. People are on the road all the time. There is the danger that they miss their children growing up, things like that. But if you want to do anything, something is going to be sacrificed. I don’t think you can find balance. Either you’re all in, or you’re not. That’s what’s great about this movie. It’s about loss, mourning and wounds.''
Stella reveals the moment McLaren’s 2023 F1 season turned around (Speedcafe)
'Difficult to mention one in particular. I just go by instinct and feeling in trying to answer your question, and as I do so, what comes to my mind, almost in a visual way, is the early laps in Austria. We had, in Free Practice 1, Lando was in the new car and Oscar was in the previous car, and I could see in telemetry that Lando, thanks to the new car, he was able to carry quite a lot more speed in the corners. I remember thinking to myself ‘this looks good’.''
10 Sports Business Predictions for 2024 (Boardroom)
Toto Wolff: ''Racing in New York, in Manhattan, if that were ever to be possible, that would be great without discounting all the other venues. We’ll find a way around that’s spectacular. I don’t know where it would be, but racing on Fifth Avenue? It would be amazing.''
Raymond Vermeulen: 'We are living a childhood dream' (Verstappen.com)
Vermeulen, Verstappen's manager: ''Stefano Domenicali is someone who seeks out communication and asks us for our opinion. And of course I know that Max does have a voice in the world of Formula 1. So for example, Max in Spa: we like it when that race is on the calendar. We like that the Netherlands is going to extend the Zandvoort contract, or when the circuit promoter just does a very good job. Because everything that happens there also kind of reflects on us. So we are enormously proud when we see that Zandvoort arranges everything so well. Really, they've done that very well.''
'Once a future megastar, Magnussen is still waiting for a competitive car' (Motor Sport)
'Kevin Magnussen is a dear friend, as I say, and he is also a good person. He is a loving husband and father. He is a very experienced F1 driver, he is extremely fit, and his battle scars have made him not only wiser but also shrewder than he used to be; yet he is still only in his very early 30s. He is almost as embedded at Haas as Max Verstappen is at Red Bull. More’s the pity, perhaps. He could still win grands prix, and even F1 world championships, if the right opportunity were to knock. But, sadly, it almost certainly will not.'
Worst Indycar Season Ever? (TyDye RacingGaming via YouTube)
YouTuber TyDye RacingGaming chronicles the poor 2015 IndyCar season for Dale Coyne Racing.
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
NYE celebrations🕺✨ pic.twitter.com/QYZvl0hmEG
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) January 2, 2024
2023 is done and dusted. A difficult year, however easily the year that’s taught me most about myself. Thank you for all the birthday wishes and I hope you all had a great New Years with your friends and family.
Feeling super refreshed and excited to come back better in 24’.… pic.twitter.com/JKwQB3LzF9
— Logan Sargeant (@LoganSargeant) January 1, 2024
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Comment of the day
Reader Esploratore would be curious to see Alexander Albon back in a Red Bull once again…
The strange thing is, I always watched Albon with a critical eye at Red Bull. The first race I was already thinking ‘no better than Pierre Gasly,’ but then he actually had a reasonable first year. I expected him to improve a bit in the second year, instead he got worse; had he performed like in 2019 I’m sure Red Bull would’ve kept him, but his 2020 was a disaster: how much worse can it get than being lapped by your team mate?
At the Bahrain outer track – the one Sergio Perez won and where Max Verstappen got taken out early on – Albon got sixth and said “it was the maximum for us”. Tell that to Verstappen!
Having said this, I’d be curious to see how Albon would do in a Red Bull again, but if I were the team principal I’d give him a race-by-race contract – can’t take such risks with drivers who under-performed that badly before.
Esploratore
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Ajokay, Coefficient, Luke and Mattypf1!
AlanD
3rd January 2024, 2:55
Mercedes are changing almost every component of the car, apart from the nuts holding the steering wheel.
grat
3rd January 2024, 5:46
To be fair, those two nuts delivered a second in the Constructor’s championship (with a little help from Ferrari) in what was probably the third fastest car.
Coventry Climax
3rd January 2024, 12:31
Nice; You’re not making friends here, but I see the humor of it. And just take it as such.
AlanD
3rd January 2024, 13:36
CC, grat, I’m not having a dig at the Mercedes drivers here, far from it, just tipping my hat to history. I cannot remember who said it originally, but way back in the early years of motor racing, someone said the most important part of their car was the nut that holds the steering wheel.
Coventry Climax
3rd January 2024, 17:45
Ah, OK. Wouldn’t matter to me personally though, if it had been a dig, humor keeps us sane I think.
I’d never heard it before, even if I’m old enough that I could have.
Or maybe that’s the problem: Too old now, to still remember ;-)
Or it might be one of those things that no one knows where it originated? Even that ‘someone’ you refer to, may not have been the first to use it?
All the same, it’s funny.
SteveP
3rd January 2024, 19:42
A mildly humorous comment that was actually used by Lauda at one point when describing “the whole package” which included the nut behind the wheel.
I think his comments about “the whole package” may have escaped most people’s understanding.
Looking forward to improvements in the Aston, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
3rd January 2024, 21:13
In Autocross (USA), a very entry-level motor sport even for folks like me at 76, we tell newcomers who want to mod their car to be competitive: “the most important part is the nut behind the wheel”.
Coventry Climax
4th January 2024, 11:13
I suppose you’d have to live in an english speaking country for it to be commonly used.
In other languages, where the word ‘nut’ does not have that second meaning regarding mental health, a similar joke would be difficult. I’m sure in those languages though, there’s other jokes, that in turn don’t ring a bell in english.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
3rd January 2024, 3:24
fingers crossed. if Mercedes turn out a barn stormer, they could be the most successful manufacturer in f1 history, spanning almost 26+ years. they have quite a hurdle to hop over, but two years to surpass the w11’s dominance. just a shame the fia isnt as interested in banning red bull designs.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
3rd January 2024, 7:33
On the other hand, the last sentence of Wolff’s quote outlines the risks of this approach. It is perfectly possible that they get the concept wrong again. That probably explains why they tried to evolve the zeropod concept last year rather than scrapping it entirely.
notagrumpyfan
3rd January 2024, 9:13
Had they done it during 2023, then at least they would’ve reduced the unknowns and have more certainty that they are on the right track.
But I guess that time and/or the budget cap prohibited them to take that route.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
3rd January 2024, 9:21
From all accounts it just sounds like it was pride and bullheadedness that made them believe they could “finally” get it to work. Had the end of 2022 not had that Russell win in it, perhaps they’d have more easily abandoned the concept that the models showed was absolutely the best.
grat
3rd January 2024, 19:56
The zeropod concept, in terms of drag, is fantastic. The rest of the car, however, wasn’t up to the task.
How Elliot convinced the team to try to fix the W13, I’m not entirely sure, but I suspect the phrase “I’ll bet my job I can make it work” was used at some point.
The zeropod is a maximum downforce configuration– in theory, the lack of drag and change in airflow should produce a car with absolute monster levels of airflow over the top compared with the ground-effect wash coming off the diffuser. Unfortunately, it exacerbates the porpoising. It’s literally too much downforce.
IF Mercedes can get their suspension right, and IF they can get the floor where it can maintain a static level of downforce (something I think Newey accomplished with the RB18/19) once the speed hits a certain level, then they’ve always got the option to revert to the zeropod design to eke out a bit more downforce.
But there’s a lot of “IF” there.
RBA
4th January 2024, 0:39
The zeropod was the draggiest car in 2022. What is bro waffling?
This is some copium levels I haven’t seen since F1 Jordan.
MacLeod (@macleod)
4th January 2024, 7:52
To be fair to the OP the zeropod design was opted because of the low drag concept but the simulation and RL were not the same as the suspension wasn’t optimal for the concept. That they were draggy was the rideheight and the huge rear wing they had to run ….
I wouldn’t surprised if Adrian Newey designed a zero pod design which would work as the RB20 that would be funny :)
Ferdinand
3rd January 2024, 10:11
It would be more exciting to see McLaren or Ferrari take the top spot. The 8 years Mercedes are still too fresh in memory imho; the most processional stint F1 has ever seen.
bosyber (@bosyber)
3rd January 2024, 10:58
The advantage of Ferrari creating the fastest car is that they, with they way things seem to be operating, surely will fumble enough that others get a chance to make it interesting, and McLaren might be interesting indeed, but for now it really only seemed to be Hamilton that can keep Verstappen somewhat honest, so I’d prefer Mercedes to be high (and if they are faster than Red Bull, surely Russell will put literal spanners in to stop it from being a Hamilton walkover like it was for Verstappen this year).
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
3rd January 2024, 19:34
Is Mercedes really that great at strategy though? Even when they had the luck of being one second ahead of the field they still messed up quite a bit, making both wrong calls, and having just messy pit stops and what not. If it’s a battle of strategy, there aren’t that many teams that can hold a candle to Red Bull and Mercedes is one of them as far as I’m concerned.
RH
4th January 2024, 0:39
They’re not. Both their strategic masterclasses in recent years are having the better race car and having a pilot who can’t pass the car in front (see Hungary 19 and Spain 21)
Ferdinand
7th January 2024, 13:12
I agree their strategy was flattered by their overspeed. I do not see them win a championship when they are on par.
Coventry Climax
3rd January 2024, 12:25
fingers crossed – you mean for Mercedes fans, presumably.
I can’t really see why it would be good for anything or anybody should they become the dominant team again, apart from desktops and headsets.
Sure, some teams or drivers are more sympathetic to me than others, and I can say I genuinely dislike mr. Wolff and think he’s a disgrace to the actual animal species, but still: I personally don’t keep any of my fingers crossed for any of the teams or drivers on the grid, and yet I’ve been an F1 adept for over 50 years.
I’ll admit the passion is waning – thank you FiA and Liberty – , but that still doesn’t mean I’m starting to favour specific teams over others, or even -consistently- keep my fingers crossed for some.
I’ll applaud the ones that did the best job. Louder maybe, if it’s fair and square.
These days it even seems some “fans” are keeping their fingers crossed for bad things to happen to the teams and drivers they’re not “supporting”.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd January 2024, 13:06
I’d prefer ferrari\mclaren\aston to challenge red bull than mercedes again, though having a season like 2003 or to an extent 2018 would be nice, with 3 teams fighting for the championship, or at least like in 2018 who all had a chance to show up with the best car in a given race.
However I don’t really trust ferrari to build a serious championship challenge as things are (we’ll see if they change with vasseur), mclaren hasn’t had a championship contender for 12 years, and aston didn’t prove anything yet, so mercedes is the only one that can really challenge red bull in the near future, I think.
Coventry Climax
3rd January 2024, 14:01
If you don’t mind, I would like the ’24 season to be like ’24.
Then see what it mostly compares to come ’25.
Then add 1 to all numbers and repeat.
Unfortunately though, the direction things seem to be going, with the regulations and all, suggests ’24 will be like ’25, and then in ’26, with the design restrictions even tighter, that will be like ’27, ’28, ’29 etc.
You could get all excited about the greens, reds, blues or oranges winning, but basically, nothing much changes anymore. The more mainstream F1 gets, well, the more mainstream it gets.
grat
3rd January 2024, 19:58
Someone’s going to dominate– I think the current rules are too complicated for smaller teams to “get it right”.
I’m ok if that’s a Silver Arrow. Hamilton’s much more likable than Verstappen, and in the US market, he’d be a better draw.
NM
4th January 2024, 9:28
Hamilton’s much more likable the Verstappen to you, many will agree, many will disagree.
Anuj Chopra
4th January 2024, 11:23
I like Verstappen. He is the most talented and disciplined driver currently on the grid. Second could be Norris or Alonso.
grat
4th January 2024, 15:19
Talented? Yes.
Most? Debatable.
Disciplined? When he’s yelling at his engineer WHILE HE’S WINNING THE RACE? Not so much.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
3rd January 2024, 21:27
It has been 58 years since we saw a Coventry Climax on the grid :-)
For me (66 years an F1 watcher), I want to see Hamilton get the 8th. He and McL messed up ’07, ’16 was so close and we all know what happened in ’21. Get #8 then I’ll turn to Norris and Albon.
Coventry Climax
4th January 2024, 11:59
OK, you win ;-)
I was not particularly charmed with Schumacher the person. Plus, records are there to be broken, so yes, someone get an eigth title please. For someone (else) to then get a ninth tenth etc, will be increasingly harder.
I used to be OK with Hamilton, but that’s become less since a couple years into his move to Mercedes. Currently, that might even be an understatement, and the ‘atmosphere’ at Mercedes has a lot to do with it.
So, not too sure which I’d like better; the record staying shared at 7, or getting broken by Hamilton.
My preference would be having a tird and a fourth and a fifth driver to reach seven titles as well, I guess.
Not very likely to happen any time soon though.
Coveted Climax
4th January 2024, 19:26
@kcrossle There actually were 2 Coventry Climax engines on the grid for the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport ( I was there ). One was in the back of John Cordts’ Brabham which was retired with an oil leak after 10 laps. The other was in the Eagle of Al Pease, who holds the distinction of being the only F1 driver ever to be disqualified for driving too slowly! He was DSQ’ed on HIS lap 22 while the leaders were on their 46th lap.
Ferdinand
7th January 2024, 13:21
I understand from a record breaking perspective since he is the only one around that can actually break this record on short term, but I don’t feel he has earned it to get it. He massively profited from the dominance of that Mercedes and did not contribute to making that car so fast. Lauda and Schumacher built teams around them and then won. Hamilton often comes across like he is not involved and his radio messaging often displays he does not read a race well but relies on others and then questions them if things have gone wrong. It provides an insight how his titles came to be as in those year there wasn’t a need to challenge or lead or question anything as their overspeed was just massive.
Ajaxn
3rd January 2024, 21:16
Don’t expect any miracles for at least the first 3rd of the season. Mercedes will be fine tuning the set up well into the season, spending most of that time matching the car’s performance to their simulations.
Zann (@zann)
3rd January 2024, 8:55
All new James Allison car, makes me feel positive about it. They must have been pretty fed up with Mike Ellis then, secretly
As for the huge wind tunnels made with a million tonnes of concrete and using terawatts to run a scale model, it’s time they were got rid of, really, isn’t it?
CheeseBucket
4th January 2024, 19:30
2MW-ish motors.
Not one million plus MWs.
Yes there’s the moving floor, climate control too etc.
Zann (@zann)
5th January 2024, 13:48
but is it smart to be literal? I mean once you’re obviously trying, it’s not necessarily effective
baasbas
3rd January 2024, 9:46
Literally. So that’s on paper, right?
Can we stop saying literally in literally every other sentence?
Zann (@zann)
3rd January 2024, 10:59
why? It derives from letter, just means what everyone knows it means, for emphasis. Girls do use it a lot, because it feels nice saying it. Don’t make me explain :)
tielemst
3rd January 2024, 11:45
A little explanation would help me, though. The times I’ve heard “literally, dad” and than wait for the rest of the sentence that doesn’t come… :-)
Zann (@zann)
3rd January 2024, 13:47
well perhaps she’s been shocked by you fanning Max, but you’ve brought her up well, to be polite, so she can’t think how to finish the sentence? :) but why she uses that particular word I will leave to your imagination. If you say it slowly a few times you might get it, why it feels nice
tielemst
3rd January 2024, 17:57
Touché:)
Coventry Climax
3rd January 2024, 12:49
I’m not curious at all to see Albon back in a Red Bull.
In the article the other day, he literally said that with the knowledge and experience of today, he’d now do a better job at Red Bull. I’m quite sure that’s true. It’s also very likely true for (almost) every other driver. What he does not say, is how much better he would be. Which is a wise choice, and somewhat in contrast to what Perez generally vents.
I think, all in all, that Red Bull is not an environment where Albon would thrive. He needs to be at ease within his team.
If he were thrown the opportunity, he might seize it. I doubt it is something he actively seeks himself, though, and I’d rather see him be successful at other teams than lose faith again at Red Bull.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
3rd January 2024, 16:17
The 2023 MB was a bad car yet good enough to come second. The other 8 cars must truly be terrible.
Tyler
3rd January 2024, 16:50
I hope it’s an absolute mid field dog so that at least when they whine their car is terrible it will actually be true for once.
osnola
4th January 2024, 22:19
That would be nice indeed. According to Toto Lewis drove the fastest car on track on multiple occassions..
Is only they were not able to pass the leader i guess. Small detail.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
3rd January 2024, 22:24
Whilst it sounds really good and positive by saying they’re changing every single component, I think you’ll find that pretty much every team, including RBR will be doing the same for their next seasons car.
It’s part of the normal process – new season, new car, so the statement from Mercedes is really more fluff and hope than a technical statement, which is why the end of the statement was “we might get it wrong”. Normal for every team.
DonSalsa
5th January 2024, 12:02
Not entirely so: Mercedes maintained a lot of details from 2022 to 2023, mainly the ‘zero pod’ philosophy! RBR also maintained a lot of their philosophy, and made important refinements to details.
From 2023 into 2024, the fact that the Mercs are totally moving away from the zeropod philosophy means they inevitably have to change a lot, compared to red bull, who I don’t think will move away from their current/dominant overall philosophy!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
3rd January 2024, 23:11
Maybe they should change the fairy on top of the tree. A bit of encouragement and inspiration would make a refreshing change.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
4th January 2024, 2:24
That will hurt their budget (ceiling) a lot!!!
SteveP
4th January 2024, 8:15
As we all know, most of the major parts design work is done in the previous season (I will remind you of the RBR catering budget for 2021), so I suspect the redesign changes people were expecting immediately after Allison came back are probably only going to appear this season.
People expected big changes and improvements and saw nothing much, then.
For 2023 McLaren changed design concepts just pre-season but didn’t have anything worthwhile before mid-season.
I disagree with @DB-C90 though. Most teams work on an evolution of the design, the idea of major chassis changes is not considered a good spend unless the existing is truly beyond development.