© Daimler AG
Mercedes Technical Director James Allison reveals where Mercedes decided to spend “a chunk” of their “available firepower” when designing their 2024 car.
After struggling for two years, Mercedes decided to almost completely redesign their 2024 car.
Considering how the cost cap has to be taken into consideration when making design decisions, Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison explains where the team decided to spend “a chunk” of their “available firepower”.
“A new chassis and a gearbox were standard for every year, pre-cost cap,” Allison said.
“And there’ll be several other teams who have done both things in a single year. But the cost cap does force you to pick and choose your battles.
“And there’s no doubt that having a new outer casing as well as at the same time as having a new chassis are two big projects that are going to take a chunk of our available firepower.
“That is what we have done this year. It does mean that in other parts of the car we have not tried to reinvent the wheel.
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“But it has allowed us to undertake a couple of big projects without breaking the bank and we believe that this is a good and important use of our efforts.“
The Briton also discussed how much work has gone into areas of the car that are not visible to the naked eye.
“Most of a Formula One car is not visible. It has always been like that, but even more so with this current generation of cars where so much of the performance comes from how the floor interacts with the road.
“Everything you see above the waterline are the ugly, inefficient conditioners that try to help the floor do its good work.
“Whether or not a car is effective is down to how well, aerodynamically at least, that floor is permitted to behave,” Allison concluded.
