McLaren believes Mercedes will be ‘back strongly’ in the 2024 F1 title fight

The McLarebn F1 team has impressed quite a few people with its 2023 progress.

McLaren believes Mercedes will be ‘back strongly’ in the 2024 F1 title fight

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff (Via: Imago)

The Mercedes F1 team has been on the back foot compared to Red Bull since the start of the 2022 F1 season. The Brackley-based team has not been able to match Christian Horner and Co’s might. Still, amidst their ongoing tussle with Ferrari for second place in the Constructors Championship, McLaren boss Andrea Stella claimed they will be in the title fight in 2024.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell recently signed contract extensions with the Mercedes F1 team that will keep them on the German outfit until the end of the 2025 F1 season. The duo believes that Toto Wolff’s men will be able to conjure up some magic in the upcoming years, and Andrea Stella holds the same opinion.

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While shedding light on who could challenge Max Verstappen next year, he said, as reported by Soymotor, “And let’s not forget Mercedes, who I think realized what they needed to work on. I suspect they are going to fight back quite strongly. There are no factual elements at the moment that say this is the pecking order we will see next year, I think, things can evolve.”

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Looking at the comments of Stella, it seems that he has kept close tabs on the progress of Mercedes during the ongoing campaign and, thus, believes that they can turn up as real title contenders next year. Mercedes last won a Formula 1 World Championship at the end of 2021 when they secured the Constructors title.

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McLaren could also be in the 2024 title fight

While Andrea Stella has admitted that in his opinion, Mercedes has a very real chance of fighting for the world championship in 2024, he has also, on the other hand, made it known that the progress around McLaren’s 2024 car is also going well. He added, “At the moment, we are encouraged by the development we are seeing in next year’s car.”

McLaren (Credits: Autosport)
McLaren (Credits: Autosport)

“But, at the same time, I suppose it will be the same for everyone since at this point some concepts are starting to become quite clear throughout.” Several pundits are seeing 2024 as the year when the fans of the pinnacle of motor racing could see 2 to 3 teams fighting alongside Red Bull for the coveted world championship.

However, considering how lethal Red Bull has been during the ongoing campaign, it is not going to be an easy task for the other nine teams to produce a car that would be able to take the fight to Verstappen and Co. next year. The RB19 has proved too mighty this year, and the same could be true with Red Bull’s next year’s weapon.

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