Mercedes points out crucial period: 'Then we have to start again'

After a disappointing Formula 1 season in 2022, Mercedes had hoped to return to the top in 2023, but the German racing stable failed to achieve that goal. All arrows are now set on 2024, with the ultimate goal of a rock-solid car when the new engine regulations come into force in 2026. Technical director James Allison is confident that his team is now on the right track.

Mercedes entered the 2023 F1 season with the goal of winning the title after the team managed to score just one victory in the first year of the new regulations. However, the team concluded after the opening race in Bahrain that the concept it had stuck to for so long needed to be abandoned.

Then, at the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, it was there: the W14 with sidepods. However, it has not yet brought Mercedes a victory. According to Allison, his team now understands where it went wrong. "You can’t promise anything because everyone’s working hard. All the teams are pretty decent. But I think we’re on a very good path. I think that much of what ails us now is reasonably well understood, and we’re working to fix that," he said in conversation with Sky Sports.

Mercedes sets sights on 2026 F1 season

Lewis Hamilton already pointed out that the next two years will be crucial when it comes to the new regulations that take effect in 2026. "It’s extremely exciting, and [he is] right about it being a very important period because all of us have got half an eye on the fact that 2026 is coming down the tracks at us. 2026, big rule change again, tear everything up, start all over again. And that will have to be done in the 2025 season under a cost cap."

"In order to have the sort of firepower to do that. It’s going to mean that probably the 2025 car will not be all-new, which means that what you do for ’24 will echo into ’25 as well because a lot of carryover will have to happen. So hugely important to set the tone for what 2024 and 2025 will turn into," Allison said.