This morning, Mercedes took the wraps off the W15, the latest single-seater from the Brackley team. On a technical level, Mercedes is led by James Allison – after Mike Elliott paid the price for following the doomed ‘zerpod’ concept. Allison has turned around the concept at Mercedes, with the first changes seen from Monaco onwards.
The W15 appears to be a revolution compared to what was seen in 2022 and early 2023, continuing the work carried out from mid-season onwards. James Allison, introducing the 2024 car, explained the approach used at Brackley.
Can you describe the design approach the team took for the W15?
“Designing any car is a long, iterative process. A new car allows the team to make more major changes that are not possible during the year.
“These are decisions that were made during the previous summer. But the main approach remains unchanged from year to year, which is to try to address your car’s weaknesses.
“Already at the beginning of the year, you have a fairly clear idea of what they might be, but clearly, they reveal themselves more clearly when the race weekends begin.
“From there, it’s about balancing the work of improving those Achilles’ heels and building a foundation on what’s worked well.
“You look at the available resources from different departments and ask them to focus their attention on solving problems.
“As time goes on, you can start to take more and more people off the current car and divert their efforts to the next one.”
What would you say were the main areas of focus with the W15?
“Great attention was paid to improving the unpredictable rear axle of the previous car. We have worked on this to try to create a car that is easier for the drivers.
“At the start of a corner, when you’re hard on the brakes and cornering, the rear end needs to be solid.
“And then, as you approach the apex, the car should feel progressively more agile and eager to turn. We tried to do this in the new car.
“We’ve also worked hard to create a car with less drag and more cornering performance. We also made some improvements to areas where we had room for improvement, including DRS and pit stop performance .
“We have always been very good at making a pit stop in a repeatable time, which is the key thing for a pit stop. However, we were always three or four-tenths slower than the best teams. We, therefore, hope to have moved in the right direction.”
How do you try to make these improvements on a new car?
“When we talk about a change to the layout, we are generally referring to the position of the engine in the chassis, the geometry of the rear suspension within the gearbox, and the changes to be made in the area where the rider rides.
“These are all things that are hypothetically doable even during the year but have such a huge cost/opportunity that you never take them into consideration. Therefore, decisions are made in the previous summer anyway.
“Then, during the off-season, you use the tools in the factory to see that you are taking the right path.”
Are you satisfied with the progress and results obtained so far?
“I feel like we delivered on all the things we said we wanted to do. Some aspects are unlimited, and therefore, you can never be fully satisfied.
“However, we won’t know until we actually get the machine moving. But I think we can say that we feel like we’ve done a good job. Formula One is a relative game.
“Whether we have worked well enough to be competitive, only time will tell. We don’t know what everyone else did.”
How was the development of this car different compared to previous years?
“A new chassis and gearbox were standard for each year, pre-budget-cap. The latter usually forces you to choose, but there are teams like us who have opted to change both.
“There is no doubt that having a new outer casing of the gearbox and, at the same time, having a new chassis are two big projects that take a part of our financial means.
“This means that in other parts of the car, we have not pushed as much development.”
How much work has been done to areas of the car that are not visible to the naked eye?
“Most of a Formula One car is not visible. This has always been the case, but it is even more so with the current generation of cars, where much of the performance comes from the way the pavement interacts with the asphalt.
“Everything you see above is ugly, inefficient air conditioners trying to help the floor do its good job.
“Whether or not a car is effective depends on how well, at least from an aerodynamic point of view, the floor can perform.”
“Most of the lap time that can be found during the season comes from aerodynamics, but exactly what we find and in which area we don’t know yet.
“The aerodynamic department, at this stage of the year, plans to dedicate a fair bit of effort to the front wings, rear wings, floor, brakes, bodywork, all elements that could arrive in Europe.
“Many of these pieces we try will never be produced, but that’s just the nature of experimentation.
“But if you engage in a sufficiently wide range of experiments, then enough of them will give positive results, and there should be a decent package to put on the machine when we return to Europe.”
From a personal perspective, how much do you enjoy this time of year?
“It’s a bit like waiting for Christmas. It is exciting. You want it to come, and you want the days to fly by.
“You also know that opening those presents on Christmas Day may not bring you as much luck as you desire. It’s not a relaxing time of year, but it’s very exhilarating.
“I wouldn’t want it to be any other way, and having been missing in the role of Technical Director for a couple of seasons, I’m starting to remember the usual feelings of anticipation and trepidation.”
Author: Piergiuseppe Donadoni
Translation: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
