Mercedes’ weekend in Australia was undoubtedly its toughest of 2024. Not only did they emerge without points, but the W15 presented unexpected and worrying characteristics. This resulted in an inconsistent weekend, complicating life for the team and its drivers. The Silver Arrows will be forced to make changes moving forward. Following this tricky period in Melbourne, James Allison outlined the team’s predicaments:
James Allison: “We lose competitiveness when temperatures are higher”
“We recognise what happened,” Allison said. “We try to accept it without hiding where we are. And then we just have to figure out why that is, what we can do and how to fix it in time for the next race.”
The Mercedes Technical Director makes no secret this is a tough period for the Brackley factory. However, he maintains that a double DNF is still a very rare result:
“It’s unusual to have a double DNF like that. We certainly don’t expect it to be something that will punctuate our season. What we’re most focused on is pace. Because if you can find the right pace, the season will be fine, whatever happens. The basic reliability of the car, our procedural approach and the skill of our drivers will keep us away from DNFs. All our attention is on pace knowing that the other fundamentals are in good condition.”
James Allison underlined how the current objective is to find the correct operating window for the W15, which in Australia seemed quite narrow. This was particularly notable on Saturday, when a disappointing qualifying took away the optimism after an encouraging last free practice session:
“There’s a pattern emerging that on most weekends. We have a moment where we feel good in the car. But then in the sessions that matter, in qualifying and in the race, things get out of hand.
“If we looked to draw a pattern, probably the most important deduction we can make is that we lose competitiveness when the track is hot when the day is hotter. Therefore, the tyre temperatures increase as much as the track temperatures.”
Having established that Mercedes’ focal point is now to extract the maximum potential from their car, what remains a major doubt is simulator correlation:
“All the teams have problems like this because what you see in the factory is only a scaled-down version of reality.
“The simulation tools we have are extraordinarily good at keeping us on the right path. In the area of balancing high and low speed, we could do with some improvement. Because there is some difference between what we see on the track and what we see in the virtual world.”
Focusing on Melbourne, James Allison clarified the decision to start Lewis Hamilton on softs, which was an aggressive approach. However, the conditions necessary to pull off this strategy did not materialise.
Hamilton’s retirement, which came due to a problem with the power unit, ruined the 7-time Champio’s chances, as Allison explained:
“When the PU returns to Brixworth, the boys will be able to understand exactly what happened. Everything we know so far is related to what was seen at that moment. Namely, a rapid loss of oil pressure followed by an engine shutdown to preserve it.”
Mercedes must mitigate losses in Japan
The Mercedes Technical Director mentioned George Russell’s incident and the decision from race control to bring out a VSC:
“The speed with which it was switched to a virtual safety car, I think, was a very good response from the whole marshals system to make sure he was protected from what was a very vulnerable position.”
George Russell’s retirement in Melbourne meant that Mercedes left Australia empty-handed. This only emphasised their lack of performance. In this context, James Allison explained how tough weekends can serve as an extra motivation:
“Suzuka is a track with lots of fast corners and aome slow hairpins, so a real test for the car.
“Our job will be to manage factors such as the tyre temperature issue, the balance between high and low speeds. George worked hard on the simulator at the start of this week, trying to help us on this journey so that we have a clear manifesto on what needs to be done.”
