“We have no choice”: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on beginning early with the 2024 challenger’s development

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has stated that they will now be focusing on developing the W14 so that the upgrade packages can be used for their 2024 F1 challenger as well.

It is clear that Mercedes is not satisfied with its result in the 2023 F1 season. Hence, the team is planning to shift its focus for the next season and get a head start in 2024.

According to Formulapassion, Wolff initially stated that the Silver Arrows' goal was not to finish anywhere below the top spot in both championship tables. Hence, he insisted that the team will now focus more on the 2024 F1 season and use the remaining races to upgrade packages and learn where it can improve for next year.

"We have no choice. These placements are not our goal, we want to get back to the top and win the championship. It won't happen this year, so we need to look to 2024, using the next races to learn and develop the W14 in order to have the improvements on the next car as well," he said.

Tweet about Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff aiming for the top of the F1 table and focusing on the 2024 F1 season (Image via Sportskeeda)

The Silver Arrows will essentially make the remaining season a testing ground for 2024. Since Mercedes was dominating the sport for quite some time before 2021, the team is still very hungry to get back on top and reclaim its throne from Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton is also on the same page. He too has mentally left the 2023 F1 season and will work with the team on their next year's car. The Brit is fueled to reclaim the top spot in F1 and win his record-breaking eighth world title before hanging up his boots.

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James Allison on Mercedes bringing upgrades for 2024 in the 2023 F1 season

Mercedes technical director James Allison recently explained how every F1 team will gradually shift their focus on developing their 2024 F1 car as the second half of the 2023 F1 season begins.

Allison said (via Soymotor):

"We're halfway through the season and there's still a lot of development to be done on these cars. It won't take long for all the teams to focus on 2024, and that will throw us all off a bit on the rate at which we can improve this year's car."

Tweet about Mercedes technical director James Allison on bringing upgrades for both 2023 and 2024 Mercedes F1 cars (Image via Sportskeeda)

Furthermore, he revealed how Mercedes is bringing certain upgrades that can be used on both 2023 and the future 2024 F1 cars. This way, the team is trying to save money while developing its cars.

"We'd all like to introduce some more updates, which we will use next season as well. We are not going to waste money; what we want to do is invest in the two seasons with this series of updates. In our case, you will see some improvements for a while longer; I suspect that with the rest of the teams as well,"

Mercedes is currently second in the constructors' championship with 203 points, while Red Bull is leading the table with 411 points.