Mercedes has brought its last significant update for the W14 this weekend and Lewis Hamilton says it needs to show they are heading in the right direction for next year.
The team made a significant change to the concept of its car earlier in the year, abandoning its novel ‘zero’ sidepod design. Since then it has brought incremental improvements to its car.However it has faced stronger opposition from McLaren, who made a leap forward with an upgrade they introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix and further developments in recent races, and Ferrari, who enjoyed a strong return to racing after the summer break and became the only team besides Red Bull to win a race this year in Singapore.
As a result, Mercedes has come under increased pressure in the constructors’ championship. Last weekend’s round in Qatar was the first time in six rounds they out-scored Ferrari, aided by Carlos Sainz Jnr’s failure to start due to a technical problem.
Mercedes has brought an update to its car’s floor for this weekend’s race. Technical director James Allison said earlier this week it could be worth up to a tenth of a second per laps around the Circuit of the Americas.
“It’s been a huge amount of work back at the factory,” said Hamilton. “This is our last big update, or the biggest of the large updates through the season, and I’m really excited to see how it feels.
“All the amazing people back at the factory have worked incredibly hard during the whole season and hopefully this really kind of tips the needle a little bit and helps us in the right direction of where we want to pursue next year.”
Mercedes is not the only team introducing upgrades this weekend: Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo and Haas are among those who have already indicated they will trial new parts in Austin. However with only a single practice session today before qualifying, they have a limited amount of time to assess the benefit of their changes.
“I don’t know exactly all the different parts of the circuit that I’ll feel it,” said Hamilton. “But hopefully it’s a global improvement and hopefully puts us a little bit closer to the guys ahead.”
Pictures: Mercedes’ floor update
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 United States Grand Prix
- US GP was Mercedes’ best race of 2023 despite disqualification – Wolff
- Singapore and Austin retirements cost me top 10 championship place – Ocon
- United States Grand Prix result unchanged as FIA rejects Haas’ call for review
- Sargeant admits he’s ‘struggled to use all the downforce at times’ in F1
- Mercedes’ Brazilian GP set-up was “conservative” after US GP disqualification
Zann (@zann)
20th October 2023, 12:34
So this is James Allison again, let’s see…
Todfod (@todfod)
20th October 2023, 12:44
I remember the time that barge boards were getting really intricate, but at that time the floor design was relatively simpler. This Mercedes floor though.. I’ve never seen such complexity in floor design. Let’s see if it works for them.
sethje (@seth-space)
20th October 2023, 12:45
its nice to see a side view of the floors but the real changes will be under…
its a pity we can not see this.
But maybe we get lucky.. does Austin uses cranes?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th October 2023, 13:01
Lance Stroll gave us a glimpse of the Alpine floor last year, but it’d be a brave photographer that went in for that close-up…
Bruce Lix (@mblix)
20th October 2023, 13:54
+1
Asd
20th October 2023, 13:43
I hope FIA soon puts a stop as to how intricate the car shapes can be, because it’s getting more and more disgusting. Soon the cars will look like blobs of black plastic melted in the sun.
The Dolphins
20th October 2023, 14:16
We’ve enjoyed some interesting interpretations and designs over the decades, let’s not try to stifle the engineers’ creativity since it only leads to more “interesting” designs.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st October 2023, 0:01
its not very intricate, its actually very simple stuff, it only looks intricate because a lot of time is spent on optimization. Evolution is like that, it takes time, like most things. The car is like a painting, and a good artist is never finished.
The Dolphins
20th October 2023, 14:15
It’s quite the design, let’s see the performance figures!
N
20th October 2023, 14:16
I thought it wasn’t possible to do many big updates in a year moneywise
N
20th October 2023, 15:50
How do you know how much the updates cost? and why was there zero comments questioning this in the ‘alpha tauri bringing ANOTHER floor update to US’ article last week? i wonder… – https://www.racefans.net/2023/10/13/alphatauri-bringing-another-floor-update-for-united-states-grand-prix/
Cheers
Zann (@zann)
20th October 2023, 16:16
when you accidentally use the same account…
George.be
20th October 2023, 18:05
Probably the extends of the changes might give you a clue…
The AT redesigns were, except for the Singapore touch-up, small steps, up until now.
Mercedes on the other hand, brought a B-spec car with a sidepod lift, and new front suspension in Monaco, is on the third or fourth big overhaul of the floor (Monaco, Silverstone, Spa, Austin), Belgium also saw a second sidepod redesign. In between they also had an extensive nose job, butt implants, and some botox on the mirrors. Only the guys between the seat and the steering wheel were not replaced at least twice :p
MadMax (@madmax)
20th October 2023, 19:56
There was only one team overspending til now…
grat
21st October 2023, 8:13
Haas: Brings new floor, new sidepods, new engine cover, new body covers, new brake ducts, new louvers.
Alpha Tauri: Brings new floor, new engine cover, new rear corners and a modified chassis.
Aston Martin: New floor, new diffuser, new beam wing, new engine cover.
Mercedes: New floor.
Internet: OMG!!! HOW CAN MERCEDES SPEND ALL THAT MONEY WITHOUT CHEATING?!?!?!?!?!?
Alesici
20th October 2023, 14:33
All this time and effort to make the optimum floor edge solution to seal the floor’s vacuum, when even their very best efforts would be annihilated by replacing it with a long brush sweeping along the ground.
A brush’s sealing ability would also not be disrupted by turbulent flow from the car ahead.
Of course, a brush has been illegal since it was first used over 40 years ago, as it’s obviously impossible for even F1 to engineer a brush strong enough to stay attached to the car.
Robert Henning
20th October 2023, 14:37
FIA should intervene and stop teams from using these outwash devices from 2025 very early next year. These complicated floor edges have made it hard to follow and are on course to destroy the purpose of ground effect cars. Now that teams can get bouncing under control its time to go back to 2022 spec with more restrictions on devices that produce outwash.
XV
20th October 2023, 19:38
It looks like the floor edge has been designed to shred the tyres of rival cars.