Mercedes' James Allison reveals development plans for Azerbaijan GP

Mercedes

Mercedes development plans REVEALED by top engineer

Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison laid out the team's plans ahead of Azerbaijan

Harry Smith

Friday 7 April 2023 20:00 Updated: 23:27

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Mercedes' chief technical officer James Allison has detailed his team's development plans over the Easter break ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Brackley-based team have been making up for lost ground during the first three rounds of the 2023 F1 season, after the W14 failed to live up to expectations at the season opener in Bahrain.

However, a convincing podium finish at the recent Australian Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton was cause for optimism at Mercedes as we head into a three-week break before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of the month.

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Mercedes hope to make bigger performance gains over the next few weeks and fans can now understand how, with Allison providing an update on how the Silver Arrows will focus their development.

Downforce on the menu at Mercedes

“What will we be doing? Well, we will be doing the normal things," explained Allison.

"We are working as hard as we can in the wind tunnel to find more downforce [and] we will be working as hard as we can in the drawing office to convert the things that the wind tunnel found a few weeks ago into performance that we deliver to the track.

“We will be working in the drawing office also to bring some mechanical parts to the car, some different suspension components that we think will help the underlying balance of the car and make it a more drivable thing.

“And we will be working on the normal sort of simulation loop and routine that allow us to prepare for the race weekends that are coming up, making sure that we land the car in the right place when we get to the race.”