"I think we were pretty much on their pace": Mercedes' Technical Director James Allison on team's new upgrade

Texas [US], October 18 : Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Mercedes AMG Formula One team Technical Director James Allison spoke about Mercedes' new floor in Austin.
"Neither of those things," Allison explained as quoted by Formula One's website. "It should be good at any circuit for the remainder of the year. It's not transformative, [it] should be about a tenth of a second," he added.
The Silver Arrows are currently involved in a heated battle with Ferrari for the second spot in the constructors' championship with five races to go in the calendar. The likes of McLaren are also seeing vast improvements that are helping to propel them up the table.
While talking about the new upgrades, Allison said that the floor would help to bring the downforce to the right place.
"It's in the direction we think is decent, both for producing downforce in the right place, and hopefully being resistant to the bounciness that all these cars nibble at as soon as you try and get much downforce from them," he added.
While Mercedes are immediately battling Ferrari, both teams will have their eyes on McLaren with the resurgent outfit scoring two consecutive double podium finishes in Japan and Qatar. With their performances earning plenty of plaudits, Allison gave his verdict on whether Mercedes will be faster than their papaya rivals in Austin.
"I think we were pretty much on their pace, not quicker than them, not slower than them, but ahead of them in Qatar. But in ordinary circumstances, they would have out-qualified us had they not had their track limits debacle with one car," he added.
"In the circumstances of Qatar, if we did Qatar over and over and over again, we probably would have been [third and fifth], because I think we would have been interleaved with them. It's close with them," he added.
"At a Suzuka-type track, they have the edge on us, at a slower type track, maybe we have some things they don't, but I'm not sure what they have left to bring to their car. Hopefully, the floor that we are going to pop on the car at the next race in Austin could bring us up on level terms in any of the races to come," Allison added.
Mercedes caught the eye when they introduced the zero side pod design concept at the beginning of the new ground effect technical regulations in 2022. But after struggling for performance, they changed the design of the W14 at Monaco earlier this year.
Allison was asked if the team knew what design direction they could trust for next season. To which, he replied, "We are pretty hopeful that we have got a good handle on what has been ailing us. Therefore, we are pretty confident that we know which direction to head in for the following season, for next season."
The upcoming United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas will take place on October 23rd and will start at 12:30 AM IST.