Brawn says team can't allow current success to distract them from next year
Sunday 25 August 2013 14:34, UK
Ross Brawn insists Mercedes won't compromise development on their 2014 car despite the team having further underlined their credentials as serious contenders for this year's championship in qualifying at Spa.
However, he made clear that Mercedes were nonetheless focused on retaining the momentum they've built up with the W04 and that their strong position in the championship necessitates anyway that they have to manage their resources to an extent between two cars. "The reality is that being in a position where you can abandon the season, it's normally because you've not got a very good car. Fortunately we've got a good car this year and we want to keep it going," he said. "In 2008 when I was with Honda we had a pretty poor car that year. It's a pretty easy decision half-way through the year to say 'right, let's forget it', leave a crew of people to run it for the rest of the year and 100% focus on doing all the preparation for next year. "If you're in good shape you don't have that opportunity: you have to manage your resources all the time. Red Bull are having to manage their resources between this year and next year, Ferrari are, all those teams are. So it's a measure of where you are that if you're having to manage the resource between '13 and '14 then you're in a good position."
