F1 News: Mercedes Teases "Interesting Projects" In Fight For Performance Gains

Mercedes' trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, hinted at "interesting projects" in the pipeline to address the team's performance issues. This comes after Lewis Hamilton's recent remarks about the challenges of driving the W14.

Key Takeaways:

Mercedes acknowledges the W14's performance inconsistency, with Shovlin admitting they're "just not quick enough" to challenge Red Bull consistently.
The competitive field has tightened, with even minor performance gaps potentially resulting in early qualifying exits.
Despite the challenges, Mercedes remains optimistic about making necessary adjustments, leveraging their simulator team in Brackley for improvements.

In a candid interview ahead of the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, Andrew Shovlin addressed the concerns surrounding the W14's performance. When asked about Hamilton's comments on the car being one of the hardest he's ever driven, Shovlin answered:

"We were doing a lot of work to try and solve some of the problems on this car, make sure that we don't have them next year.

"We have moved it forward, the car we had previously, in 2022, that tended to be an awfully long way off in qualifying, it was generally racing a bit better. The performance was very, very track specific. So, some areas we have improved.

"The big issues, we're just not quick enough. So, we need to find a good chunk of performance, to challenge Red Bull in particular. But the other thing is the field is now super close.

"You look at some of the gaps we had 12 months ago, and you can have a decent qualifying position... Now, if you do that, you end up getting bumped in Q1 or Q2."

Regarding the upcoming race weekend and the team's pace relative to Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren, Shovlin remarked:

"On the basis of FP1, we're glad it's not a sprint race, because we've got a bit of work to do!"

This interview provides further context to Lewis Hamilton's recent frustrations with the W14. After a challenging qualifying session at Marina Bay during the Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton described the W14 as "the hardest car" he's driven. Despite these challenges, Hamilton remains a formidable force on the track, finishing on the podium at last weekend's challenging race behind Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

"There's lots for us to work on," Shovlin continued. "And certainly some of the work will be about making sure we can give the drivers the confidence in the car that they're lacking at the moment.

"And that's a big area. We've got some interesting projects that hopefully they'll come off," he teased.