Paddy Lowe to focus on 2013 Mercedes car development

Mercedes has instructed new recruit Paddy Lowe to focus his efforts on improving the team's 2013 Formula 1 car as it steps up its push for the world championship

On the back of its second victory in three races, and indications that it has made a big step forward in understanding the tyres, Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has revealed that Lowe's priority in his role as executive director (technical) is to drive forward the development of the W04.

"There may be a point where we say it is not better to put our efforts into next year, but at the moment we are putting the maximum into this season," said Brawn when asked by AUTOSPORT about Mercedes' title prospects.

"One of the things I have said to Paddy is focus most of your attention on this car.

"Obviously [he must] know what is going on with the other car which is progressing well under Aldo Costa, but let's push this one. That is an easy thing for Paddy to step in to.

"We will juggle our resources over the next six months to see what comes, but Silverstone was a pretty good step."

Lowe joined the team at the start of last month, after a deal was reached for him to be released from his McLaren contract early.

Mercedes' focus so far this year has been in curing its poor tyre degradation, but the way its drivers were able to match the pace of Red Bull at Silverstone has suggested it is now on top of the situation.

Brawn was encouraged by that performance, but equally knows that the team cannot get complacent.

"We took the race to them [Red Bull] this weekend, but we have to take another step because we were a little bit defensive," he said.

"We made quite a lot of changes to the car for here that we think are significant, but we have to wait and see."