Formula 1 News: Mercedes looking for 1/10th sec from new floor

Speaking to Tom Clarkson and Damon Hill on the F1 Nation podcast earlier this week, Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison addressed whether the new floor Mercedes is bringing to the USGP is a game changer.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 during the British GP at Silverstone Circuit on Saturday July 08, 2023 in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images) — Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 during the British GP at Silverstone Circuit on Saturday July 08, 2023 in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images for Pirelli)

“It should be good at any circuit for the remainder of the year. It’s not transformative, [it] should be about a tenth of a second.

“It’s in the direction we think is decent, both for producing downforce in the right place, and hopefully being resistant to the bounciness that all these cars nibble at as soon as you try and get much downforce from them.”

Will the new floor put Mercedes ahead of the McLarens have come on strong as the season progressed?

“I think we (Mercedes) were pretty much on their pace, not quicker than them, not slower than them, but ahead of them in Qatar,” said Allison. “But in ordinary circumstances they would have out qualified us had they not had their track limits debacle with one car.

“[Second and third] in the circumstances of Qatar, if we did Qatar over and over and over again, we probably would have been [third and fifth] because I think we would have been interleaved with them. It’s close with them.

“At a Suzuka type track, they have the edge on us, at a slower type track, maybe we (Mercedes) have some things they don’t, but I’m not sure what they have left to bring to their car. Hopefully, the floor that we are going to pop on the car at the next race in Austin could bring us up on level terms in any of the races to come.

Allison was asked if the team now know what design direction they can trust for next season. He replied: “We are pretty hopeful that we have got a good handle on what has been ailing us. Therefore, we are pretty confident that we know which direction to head in for the following season, for next season.

“But that leads to an open question though, let’s say we are dead right, and we know exactly where we are heading, can we actually walk that path fast enough to overhaul a pretty dominant Red Bull and pop our noses in front? That’s our challenge, more so than being confident about where we are heading.

“I think we are heading in the right place but the challenge, and that’s what makes this part of the year so breathlessly brilliant, can we not just walk along that path but instead sprint it for the next several months.”