Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have issued a warning as an F1 competitor targets the British driver’s back.
Hamilton is leading the Silver Arrows’ push to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull after consistently increasing the speed of his Mercedes car on race days so far this season.
By putting up a fierce fight against Mercedes until the end of this Formula 1 season, Frederic Vasseur vowed to make Lewis Hamilton’s life challenging.
Since this season’s opening weeks, the “race” for the championship has been predetermined.
At the first few Grands Prix, Red Bull was miles ahead of their rivals, and they have stayed there as the season has gone on.
But behind them, things have been much more constrained. The four teams’ relative dominance has been fluctuating over the course of the year, especially in the second half.
And as a result, there is a tight race for the constructors’ championship runner-up spot.
With six races remaining, only 20 points separate Mercedes and Ferrari; McLaren are too far behind after a slow start, and Aston Martin have slipped.
With everything on the line, Ferrari team principal Vasseur is eager to keep up the pressure on Mercedes through the end of the season.
The Frenchman does not see a reason why his team’s preparations for the 2024 season should suffer as a result.
The fight is today with Mercedes, and we have to take it, he said. “You don’t have to postpone the fight.”. “It’s always the best way to get ready for the future, and getting everyone on board and into the fight is important for the team’s mindset.
And we’ll continue the conflict until the end of the campaign.
“I believe that performance is derived from performance, so it is never a sacrifice.
Although it’s too late to enter the wind tunnel for this season, what we can do with the current car will benefit us in the following one.
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Vasseur won’t be the only boss to exert extreme pressure on his team until the very end.
Mercedes wants to catch up to Red Bull with their 2024 car, but despite the time and money invested in that effort, Silver Arrows head of race strategy Rosie Wait has already confirmed there will be additional improvements made to the car for this season.
“While we will need to use the winter to make more fundamental changes to W15, there are many things we can do with the current car that will both make it faster and aid our learning and understanding to develop next year’s car,” she said.
That’s what we’ve been doing and will keep doing.
“The things we discover from putting them to the test this year will directly influence the creation of the W15.
Additionally, we must not lose sight of the fact that we and Ferrari are engaged in a close race for second place in the championship, and that finish is crucial for all of us.
Therefore, we have upgrades planned and will keep adding them to the vehicle.
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