Sky Sports F1 pundit wants one team to have a ‘full new car’ heading into 2024 season

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Sky Sports F1 pundit Bernie Collins has admitted that she hopes Mercedes have a completely new car heading into the 2024 season.

After a winless season for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, team principal Toto Wolff will be well aware of how much progress Mercedes need to make over the winter to compete with Red Bull.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Collins shared her thoughts ahead of a season that theoretically should see the gap between the fastest cars on the grid begin to shrink.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has already warned against the diminishing returns his team can achieve heading into this winter.

Their car was close to perfection last year but you wouldn’t put it past Red Bull to find a way to make it even quicker.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will be demanding perfection after last season and it’s hard to see them regressing.

That puts the pressure on their rivals and Collins has admitted that she hopes Mercedes arrive on the grid with a new car this year to challenge the Austrian outfit.

Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton were particularly vocal about how unhappy they were with last year’s car.

Another 12 months of getting used to the regulations should mean they have a better idea of how to deliver a quick car. Doing so in practice is another challenge altogether.

Collins hopes Mercedes have whole new car in 2024

Previewing the upcoming season, Collins said: “The hope is that Mercedes are doing a full new car hopefully that brings them a step closer to Red Bull and what have McLaren and Ferrari learned from this year being quite close behind them at the end of the year.

“So, you could end up with a three, four car fight at the front, which would be ideal.

“Let’s see. My worry is that Red Bull have just been developing away or looking at this year’s car and are another step ahead.”

Lewis Hamilton’s reputation precedes him and he’s already been suggested as the only person that can challenge Max Verstappen next year.

George Russell took a step backwards last year, but a combination of an undrivable car and plenty of bad luck didn’t help.

Mercedes fans will be echoing Collins’s thoughts that they need to arrive at testing in Bahrain with a new car.

The drivers were working behind the scenes to fix the issues in 2023 and will be hoping that pays off going into this year.