F1: James Allison Reveals Plans For Mercedes Upgrades To Cope With Red Bull Charge

The technical director of Mercedes and soon to be Chief Technical Officer for the entire motor sporting division of the German giant has revealed that there is a roadmap for some upgrades which will make the 2021 W12 faster. The defending 7-time world champions have been undefeated since 2014, but perhaps so for the first time during the hybrid era of the sport, they don't look like favourites to take the title home. 

Red Bull currently leads it in the constructors, while Max Verstappen has an imposing 18 point lead over 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton who hasn't won a race in 4 consecutive attempts, including two which didn't include a step on the podium. 

"We have a number of things that will make our car faster in the coming races. Let's hope they prove sufficient," Allison told the F1 Nation podcast. However, these comments come after Mercedes F1 boss and co-owner Toto Wolff said that the development cycle for the 2021 car was over and focus had shifted to the development of the 2022 car which features dramatic changes to the aerodynamic regulations. 

The 7-time world champion was pleading for an upgrade as he had no answers to the Red Bull pace 

"I don't think the two things are at odds with each other and I don't think Toto has said precisely that [there will be no more upgrades]. What Toto points out is that next year's rules are a big, hairy affair and they demand a huge amount of our attention," explained Allison. 

He said that while most of the factory had shifted to working on the 2022 concept, there were still things the team could do and there were still upgrades in the pipeline. 

"So most of the focus of our factory has switched over to next year, the performance discovery for next year, but that doesn't mean there aren't things still in the food chain from prior to that focus switch. And furthermore, it isn't all of the factories, and furthermore, we are only one of two factories - there is also the power-unit factory and there is a little more to come from the PU," he said. 

These revelations came after Lewis Hamilton yearned for an upgrade to the W12 after struggling to match Verstappen's pace at the Styrian GP. Hamilton was struggling so much that he impeded the progress of Carlos Sainz in the slower Ferrari and eventually the Spaniard requested to be un-lapped. 

Whatever be the case, the good news is that the upgrades are coming. However, it is not clear if Mercedes has changed its position after the devastating performance of the Red Bull at its home race track or this was always the plan and the podcast was recorded earlier.