Mercedes driver George Russell claims that the team has finally come up with some new tweaks in the car after being dominated by Red Bull for the last two years. While the Mercedes team has managed to hold their position right behind the Austrian manufacturers, they are less than half the scores behind the winning team.
Red Bull is leading the constructor’s championship with 503 points while Mercedes is still at 247. However, George Russell has finally come up with updates on the car. The Mercedes team was seen struggling a lot throughout the season, although they won a few podiums. But with their car still struggling to match up with Red Bull, they seem to have diverted their focus on next year’s car.
Before their performance went downhill in 2021, they had one of the fastest cars on the grid. The W11 was a one-of-a-kind car that brought Mercedes eight constructors championships. With the W11, Mercedes’ star driver, Lewis Hamilton won seven World Championship titles. He also scored 413 points, becoming the first driver to win the most points in one season.
The W13 went on to become the most dominant car in Formula 1 for those eight years. But after Red Bull’s sudden rise, Mercedes has struggled to grasp the first spot with only George Russell winning one race for Mercedes in 2022.
Is the W11 in the works of making a comeback in 2024?
With such an incredible high-performance car in the past, Mercedes has finally taken the car as an inspiration for next year. Recently. George Russell talked about Mercedes’ plans for the next year’s car. Since they are far behind Red Bull, the Silver Arrows team has decided to focus on next year.
Russell told PlanetF1.com after the Belgian GP, “It definitely can be tweaked. I think we’re working really hard on the characteristics for next year,”
“We’re looking a lot at how the previous generations of cars were for Mercedes during the glory years and using that as a bit of inspiration. Clearly, that was one of the best cars in history. So that’s given us some pointers of where we need to try and aim for.”
While they grappled with the car at Spa, with both drivers describing it as “bouncy”, the British manufacturer seems to have diverted their focus. Hamilton has also spoken out about his team needing to take a new direction. With the summer break, the Mercedes team has gotten into action. George Russell has started to work on the characteristics of the car and they hope to revive the W11 while adhering to the regulations.
Meanwhile, the races for the 2023 season will resume at the end of this month. The drivers will be taking a vacation and spending time with their loved ones. The next race is set to be on August 27 where the drivers will once again battle in Zandvoort in the Dutch GP.