“It’s huge. If you can upgrade by two-tenths of a lap time and take a race one step ahead, that’s fantastic. You can make the car a little bit more capable.
“The philosophy of the company is to encourage everyone to be as efficient as possible and to point out things that are holding them back. We’re very, very focused on asking ourselves, can we do this a little bit faster? What’s stopping our updates from getting ahead of the competition? And dealing with the critical path.
READ MORE: ‘We’re making big boy decisions’ – Ricciardo looks back on rebranding, saying he ‘wouldn’t be comfortable’ if RB were still a junior team
“Human nature can get in the way sometimes. There’s a little bit of leeway because not everyone wants to let the team down, but when you add all that leeway up, you suddenly realize that you could have done it faster. So we try to do our best and work to that standard. But if we’re struggling to meet that optimistic timeline, we don’t start pointing fingers.
“It’s a completely different mindset. Part of the job is making sure people feel comfortable challenging themselves and safe in the knowledge that if something unexpected happens, they won’t be blamed. We don’t blame. We do. We review what happened and try to improve.”
Back from their summer break, the 10-team design office will be focused on 2025. But with the fierce competition on the ground, plans for 2024 may not be fully finalized yet. Manufacturing operations, however, will remain focused on the present, with at least one update expected in the coming weeks and months.
We’ve already seen game-changers this year, and the balance of power could shift again before the season ends. We want to see a great moment on the track, a brilliant pit stop, or a brave strategy call that decides the championship, but it’s more likely that the enormous effort and thought behind the scenes at the factory will tip the balance.
