Mercedes has no qualms about throwing away its “really fast” W14 Formula 1 car at the end of this year, knowing better things will come with the 2024 car. The German automaker was on the verge of victory in Singapore last weekend when George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had the chance to take victory thanks to a strategic masterstroke.
Even though it didn’t work out in the end, the potential shown at the Marina Bay Circuit showed that the team has made good progress in improving its 2023 car after a difficult start to the season.
Twelve months ago, Mercedes was excited about the development of the W13 and, after winning in Brazil, felt confident enough to keep the car’s concept this year – a decision that proved wrong.
Toto Wolff: 2024 car with “encouraging signs”
But although the W14 is now coming into form, team boss Toto Wolff says the team would not hesitate to go in a completely different direction next season – especially due to the good feedback Mercedes is receiving from the development of the W15 for 2024.
“We will throw this car in the trash, even if it is really fast, and then start a new journey,” says Wolff. “I think we have encouraging signs from the wind tunnel for a balanced car that will fit more together and we have answers to our questions. So we really see the results with an encouraging perspective.”
One of the ongoing problems Mercedes faces with the W14 is that it can be quite unpredictable – both in terms of its performance each weekend and its handling on track.
USA update: Can Mercedes still manage to win this season?
Wolff says Mercedes can still learn a lot from it in the remaining 2023 season to achieve at least one victory: “It’s still a bit of a surprise box for us,” he says. “Everything we learned this year will be valuable next year – but obviously no one is working on the current cars anymore.”
The car’s unpredictability is one of the reasons why Wolff suspects the car gets better with each race weekend, because it takes drivers so long to get used to the car’s behavior.
Earlier this month, Wolff said of this feature: “I think the car is still so sensitive and difficult to set up that we need more training to get it under control.”
“Since you don’t know how the car will behave when turning, it’s about gaining confidence in these sessions. And the longer we drive, the better we get, the more we can fine-tune the tools, and that helps,” he said Wolff. Mercedes will bring an update package to the US Grand Prix in order to achieve another victory this season.