Lewis Hamilton is remaining tight-lipped on what Mercedes are working on for 2024, with the British driver admitting that their plans are “top secret”.
Whilst Mercedes currently find themselves second in the Constructors’ Championship, they’ve rarely been the second-best team this season.
In actual fact, the Silver Arrows have been fourth in the pecking order at most of the recent rounds, behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.
Ferrari are actually challenging Mercedes for P2 in the standings ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, with the Italians being just 20 points adrift of the Germans.
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Whilst Mercedes are keen to secure second in the championship, they are already well underway with working on next year’s car.
Second place ultimately isn’t where the Brackley-based team want to be, resulting in them trying lots of stuff to ensure that they enter 2024 with the best package possible.
Having Hamilton for another two seasons at least means the Germans can continue developing the car with the seven-time World Champion and George Russell, who are staying at Mercedes until at least the end of 2025.
Hamilton has “100% faith” in the side that they can give him a car to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull, which is the main goal at the end of the day.
Mercedes are “unhappy” with how the new aerodynamic era of the sport has started for them, making them and Hamilton “hungry” to bounce back better than ever in 2024.
“I can’t tell you, it’s all top secret stuff,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz, when asked how 2024 preparations are going.
“Firstly, I’m not an aerodynamicist,” he added. “But when you go into the wind tunnel, it’s mega exciting.
“No matter what point of the year you go in, there’s new bits coming. There’s bits in the pipeline. There’s stuff being tried all the time.
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“What excites me is going into where the aerodynamicists, the whole team, are working away. That’s what inspires me. Everyone’s heads are down, everyone is doing their due diligence.
“Everyone’s unhappy with where we are and been for the past couple of years. I know they are hungry and that, for me, I know they are chasing and doing absolutely everything they can. I’m then able to bring that into the weekend.
“No matter what shape it’s looking like, I can’t say [if] it’s going to be fast. It’s the work those guys are doing and they know what they are doing. I have 100% faith in them that they will pull it together.”