Alarm bells ring at Mercedes: Suggestion of 'B-spec car for Silverstone'

Mercedes is considering radically changing the concept after all. Sam Collins reveals in the Weekend Warm-up that Mercedes already has a new 2024 car in the wind tunnel and may also come up with a new 2023 car at Silverstone.

By now, it is clear that it is alarm phase one at Mercedes. After the car was well advanced in 2022, its concept appears unable to compete with that of Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, and now even Aston Martin. The rudder has to change and that seems to be leading to drastic measures.

''We've seen Mike Elliot, he's not looking too happy with that machine. We've seen James Allison come back and take a more active role in the development of the car,'' the technical expert told Formula1.com. ''There are some things the team can do, but one of the options, I guess it's the atomic or blitz option for Mercedes, is to simply bring a new car to Silverstone.''

According to Collins, Mercedes would already have a new car for 2024 in the wind tunnel, but with the stable regulations for the next few years would even consider introducing it earlier. ''It's a long shot, it may not happen, but Mercedes could bring a drastically different B-spec to Silverstone.''

''It seems to me, they can't take this concept much further and be competitive with Red Bull and Ferrari at the moment so something drastic is going to need to happen,'' Collins concluded. Toto Wolff has also previously stated that the concept does not seem to be working, but the question is whether, under the budget cap in 2023, they will be able to change that.