Mercedes Technical Director James Allison has pin pointed where the team wants to improve the W14 in the second half of the 2023 Formula 1 season. The team got off to a difficult start with their car after bringing an evolution of the W13 aero concept to the first few races, which featured the aggressive 'zero' sidepods. This was swapped for a more conventional layout similar to the Red Bull RB19, while significant changes to the floor were also introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix. Allison believes this has enabled them to make the biggest gains in performance so far this year: "Simply putting downforce on the car in the medium to high-speed area of the aero map. "That downforce is found closer to the ground than we had developed the car in the first instance."
Allison explains Mercedes improvements
Toto Wolff has previously described the impact the W14 is having on their driver performance, noting that the car is often on a 'knife-edge' for George Russell. Allison believes their next batch of updates will be aimed at giving drivers more confidence in a specific area they have complained is 'too reactive.' "Bread and butter downforce is always a good thing. We are also trying to make the car more reassuring for the drivers when they initially turn in. "It feels too reactive. Then when they get to the apex they have the opposite problem, where we want it to bite at the front and it doesn't. "It's unstable when you first turn the wheel and then annoyingly dead when they get to the apex. We want it the other way around. That's what we are working on."
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