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Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison says current F1 rules “have a much more sort of clear upper bound to them in the amount of lap time these cars are capable of producing”.
Today it was announced that Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison has signed a long-term extension of his contract with the team.
The Briton now reveals the belief inside Mercedes is that Red Bull might be approaching the upper limits of performance as allowed by current F1 rules, so other teams could soon start catching up.
“I think Toto drew the comparison between climbing Everest and the challenge we have in front of us,” Allison said.
“That’s a fairly apt comparison, because Everest is the sternest of challenges, but it is nevertheless, something that is possible to do.
“I think that’s how we’re taking this, as something which is where we are absolutely a challenger rather than a favorite.
“But nevertheless, we hope we’ve done a good job with the new car — we hope we’ve addressed some of the shortcomings that were so publicly on display with it last year.
“There is also just a little bit that nestles in the back of our heads, which is that the rules themselves have a much more clear upper boundary to them in the amount of lap time these cars are capable of producing.
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“Much more than the older generation of cars, which the more love you gave them and the more labor you put into them, the faster they got, seemingly without end.
“If you look at last year, you see, from the start of the season to the end of the season — although Red Bull’s dominance was near complete, and they didn’t look vulnerable even to the last race of the year — if you look at the bigger picture, this is a grid that is gradually compressing, and all the cars in Q1 were sort of squashed down within one second of each other.
“And that’s not coincidence. It’s a trend that has happened from 2022, continued in 2023, and I think will continue to show itself in 2024, because the gains are getting more and more asymptotic.
“I think therefore, that in addition to us I hope having worked well, my guess is it’s going to be relatively busier near the top of the grid this time around.
“If we are good enough to be in that fight, then operational things — driver excellence, the reliability of the car, the skill of the crews that service it — all of those things start to potentially become the differentiating factors.
“Hopefully there too we’ve given a good wash and brush-up to performances that were sometimes less than stellar last year,” Allison concluded.
