James Allison Reveals Plans On 2024 Mercedes W15: "No Great Revelation"
James Allison, Mercedes' Technical Director, has rejected the notion of a complete overhaul of the team's car design for the 2024 Formula 1 season. Despite the team's current struggles, Allison has opted for a different approach in tackling future development.
Allison recently returned to his former position after a reshuffle that saw Mike Elliott appointed as Chief Technology Officer. He is now leading the charge in developing the team's next car and has confirmed that they will not be starting from scratch.
Mercedes is currently working on an aggressive update package for their current W14, with Allison taking the reins in identifying the best course of action for the team's future development.
While the team has previously considered changing their car concepts, including redesigning the sidepods, Allison believes that a complete overhaul is unnecessary. Instead, he is focusing on building upon the team's current foundation.
Speaking to the media at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Allison explained to Motorsport.com:
“I don't think any of us would ever consider a whole revamp, clean sheet or prosperous approach.
“If the rules change, then of course you have to change with them, but engineering is about iteration. And, in all likelihood, if you tear things up, and I am going to mix metaphors horrifically here, but you are going to just throw away an awful lot of baby along with a small amount of bathwater.
“All of these cars, from the top to the bottom of the grid, are unbelievably good cars and it is merely a question of how competitive are you? Are you the best in the whole world?
“You are going to use the platform you have and you're going to choose the paths forward that allow it to get better in the fastest possible way. And almost never, in fact never, would you ever tear things up and say: ‘no, enough with that, let's change and do something completely different.’”
Allison continued:
“We'll be trying to add downforce to the car and try not to add too much drag for the downforce we're adding.
“We will also be trying to improve the balance of the car. I think there isn't a car out there with a perfect balance, and ours is very much less than perfect.
“We'll be trying to work on that aerodynamically and in terms of platform control with the suspension. But there is no great revelation there, all the things that will make our car faster would make every car on the grid faster.
“The trick is to try to make sure we're bringing them quickly enough that we make a relative improvement on our competitors. But there's no magic to that.”