Mercedes’ sidepods were not the cause of their poor performance this year, according to James Allison.
The ‘zeropod’ concept emerged at the start of the ground effect era, in 2022, but Mercedes has since relinquished Formula One dominance to Red Bull.
After two seasons of adopting the erroneous idea of having a distinct sidepod design compared to every other F1 team, a more traditional design for the 2024 W15 chassis has been promised.
Sky asked Mercedes technical director Allison if they regretted sticking to their guns on the proposal.
Mercedes’ woes were quickly identified when they were edged out at the opening round by Aston Martin, their customer team.
McLaren would later take over as fighting for the podium in the latter half of the season.
Mercedes failed to win a grand prix for the first time since 2011, having won just once last year.
Allison was brought back as their technical director, to replace the outgoing Mike Elliott, as Mercedes aim to get back to winning ways in 2024.
Sky’s David Croft reported optimism from the Mercedes camp at the third-from-last race of the year: “It’s a confidence that the direction is right, that the technical department is fully aligned and working in tandem – chassis and aero, with each other.
“I think the fact that James Allison has come back and taken a more keen interest, after moving away a little bit at the start of the season, and replacing Mike Elliott as technical director before he departed, I think that has gone down very well with Lewis Hamilton.”
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