Mercedes boss Toto Wolff concerned about Red Bull's development progress for 2024 - Reports

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is reportedly concerned about Red Bull's development progress ahead of 2024. Wolff speculated that the team led by Christian Horner would have shifted focus to the RB19's successor in July, giving them more time to work on their 2024 challenger.

Given Red Bull's dominance in the 2023 season, Wolff stated that if his team were in a similar position, they would have commenced work on their challenger for next year as early as July.

The Silver Arrows were the closest of the chasing pack to Red Bull, as they finished P2 in the constructors' standings. However, Wolff fears the early switch in the development will aid the reigning champions in continuing their dominance in 2024.

Speaking to media at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Wolff said, via PlanetF1.com:

“I’m sure that Red Bull has probably switched off – there is no such thing as switching off [completely], but they will have started next year’s car way ahead of everybody else,” he said.

"If we were in this situation, looking at our historic strategy, we would probably have been all hands on deck by July on next year’s car."

Since Mercedes were involved in a tense battle for P2 with Ferrari, he admitted the team began working on the W14's successor in mid-August. Equating the time gap with Red Bull to performance gains, he said:

“That is a month-and-a-half earlier than we have been [for 2024] so, when you calculate the gains that you make alone in aero, you are talking a couple of tenths.”

The Silver Arrows enjoyed a similarly dominant run last decade, between 2014-2020. Talking about their strategy in that period, he said:

“It was the beginning of July, where we had all groups [working] on next year’s car. You get out of the blocks in a good way, you are leading, you are the benchmark, you understand the car – you’re adding performance.”

Entering the third year with the ground effect regulations, the Mercedes team boss hopes the "diminishing returns" for Red Bull will help his team close the gap.

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Christian Horner was surprised by Mercedes continuing with the failed concept

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted he was surprised after Mercedes continued with its "zero-pod" design for 2023, a concept that he deemed had failed in 2022.

Reflecting on rivals' 2023 campaign, Horner told Autosport:

“I think what surprised us was that Ferrari had a very good car last year. And the natural evolution of that we expected it to be a very tight contender this year. We were very surprised to see Mercedes sticking with the concepts that had clearly failed the previous year.”

Mercedes ditched the side-pod concept after the season opener in Bahrain, where Toto Wolff announced a mid-season change in design philosophy. Following an arduous campaign, they beat Ferrari to the second position in the constructors' standings.