Mercedes technical director James Allison says securing second place behind Red Bull in F1's Constructors' championship "really matters" for the Brackley squad.
While Mercedes' improvements this season haven't allowed the team to challenge its dominant Red Bull rival on a consistent basis, the German outfit has been able to gain an upper hand over its Aston Martin and Ferrari opponents.
Mercedes headed into F1's summer break with a 51-point lead over Aston with the Scuderia sitting fourth in the standings, just one point behind the latter.
Protecting its runner-spot is one of two objectives Mercedes is looking to fulfil in the second half of the 2023 season.
"We started off with high hopes," said Allison, as he summarized Mercedes' season so far.
"Initially our position relative to the front of the field took some getting used to, but the subsequent reaction by the team has been admirable.
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"Quite early, we got a handle on what had gone wrong and have steadily been putting it right since.
"At the start of the year we were fourth quickest, looking at our customers who were beating us, and that was frustrating. Ferrari were beating us too.
"Little by little we are gradually putting them behind us. Everything is playing a part in it. From strategy to engineering, reliability, manufacturing and the drivers who are metronomic in their ability to turn half-opportunities into points.
©Mercedes
"Although it falls short of our initial aims, securing P2 nevertheless really matters for all of us. Especially in the second half of the season when the tone will be shifting to the W15."
As Mercedes channels its resources towards next year's contenders, the team's second primary objective is to make sure it continues to learn as much as it can about its W14 car and feeds its learnings into next year's design, as Mercedes chief technical officer Mike Elliot explained.
"It's important to show progress from last year and end the year strongly. We want to take the momentum into the winter," commented Elliot.
"Our aim is to win championships. Unfortunately, we are not in that position this year. But we want to be next year.
"We've got to get that balance right between getting all the learnings we can with our current car and trying to put most of our effort into next year's car.
"We're engineers and are interested in the technology. As Niki famously said, you learn more when you lose than when you are winning. I feel like it was a big learning journey through last year, and into this year.
"The hope is we've uncovered the learnings we need now, and we can keep developing in one direction.
"Sitting in my position, to look at things through a slightly wider lens, it's nice to see the learnings. You then illuminate another bit of the path, and it gets clearer."
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