Lewis Hamilton has been stuck on seven Drivers’ Championship titles since 2020.
Mercedes chief technical director James Allison believes that the team’s operation and driver line-up is enough to make rivals ‘envious’, with hungry F1 duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell bidding to close the gap on Red Bull and mount a serious challenge for the top prizes in 2024.
Red Bull won every race but one last season, and Max Verstappen won the Drivers’ Championship for the third time in a row by dominating the rest of the field. Hamilton, on the other hand, lost his second straight campaign and finished the year without winning.
However, Allison thinks that if Mercedes works together to create a competitive car in the off-season, the seven-time world champion and teammate Russell will be more than capable of taking on Verstappen.
“They require the equipment from us,” Alisson said to Sky Sports. Lewis has demonstrated seven times that he is a contender for a world championship. He also had this year’s highest scoring non-Red Bull driver.
“George has made a few mistakes this year, but he has also put up excellent performances in a number of races. In his second season with us, he’s had a great learning experience. If they battled hard and skillfully enough, I’m sure both men could win the world championship if they had the proper gear.”
Mercedes failed to win a race in 2023 for the first time in twelve seasons, but they were consistent enough to finish five points ahead of Ferrari in second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Even though Red Bull is coming off a victory in which they scored twice as many points as their closest rivals, Allison maintains that some team members will help them improve in 2024.
“We have an abundance of resources,” the Mercedes CEO went on. Despite a few missteps throughout the year, the team itself is endowed with extremely talented engineers, making it an operation to be envied by many.
“And a lineup of drivers that would make any team jealous. George Russell, a younger man with great potential, is one of our drivers; he is arguably the most successful person to have ever driven a race car.
“We have a very fortunate team. We need to build on this momentum and hopefully surpass P2 next year.”
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