Mercedes’ start to the season has almost been traumatic. The first three race weekends have cemented the W15 as the most disappointing car on the track – creating further headaches for the Brackley and Brixworth factories. Toto Wolff is now tasked with putting his team back on track.
In Bahrain, the car underperformed due to an engine overheating problem. At the same time, in Jeddah, it failed to find the right balance due to a lack of load at high speeds, revealing a significant lack of correlation between the simulator and the track. Finally, in Australia, Lewis Hamilton retired due to a problem with the Power Unit.
At the same time, George Russell did not have the pace of the leaders and ended up in an accident, losing the car while fighting with Alonso and after having an argument with his W15 throughout the race. A double zero that weighs on Toto Wolff’s men who, after two years of technical regulations, still haven’t found the key to the problem, being overtaken even by his client teams, McLaren and Aston Martin. An important humiliation to bear.
ELIMINATED MANY NEGATIVE VARIABLES WITH THE W15, BUT THE TOP REMAINS FAR AWAY
The 2024 single-seater was presented as an important evolution of the previous car, which would have solved most of its problems. James Allison, at the end of the tests, was satisfied the Brackley technicians managed to “eliminate the instability at the rear, which had limited us greatly during the last season.”
The English technical director had predicted that he would see a W15 immediately behind Red Bull, albeit with a certain gap. The truth, however, is that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are well behind the car from Milton Keynes.
Additionally, they are behind the Ferrari SF-24 and are fighting above all with Aston Martin after the steps forward made by McLaren between Jeddah and Melbourne.
“Ours is a problem of physics, not of philosophy or organization. There is something about these cars that we don’t understand and that, in the past, we would have understood more easily.
“But I have to be optimistic and not allow negative thoughts to influence us. I have to motivate the team,” said Toto Wolff after a disastrous weekend in Melbourne. According to the Austrian, there must be a pragmatic approach to protect the team.
He explains: “I’m here thinking of giving my contribution, but if anyone has an idea I ask them to tell me. Because I will listen to anyone who can do the good of this team and that’s what interests me” .
At the start of the season, there are many headaches, and rather than finding answers, questions and doubts regarding this project seem to be increasing.
“The positive thing is that we have eliminated several problems that we thought we had, such as our suspension, the stiffness of the gearbox, a steering that vibrated excessively and many other things, which have become positive today.”
The main problem, however, is the same as last year. There is a discrepancy between what Mercedes see in the factory and what happens on track.
In the last three years, Mercedes has enjoyed a few high points. These peaks in performance saw Hamilton and Russell occasionally fight at the front. However, this is not enough for a team accustomed to winning World Championships.
REALITY CHECK IN AUSTRALIA: MERCEDES FAR FROM BOTH FERRARI AND MCLAREN
Only 12 months ago, Mercedes finished in second place in Australia with Lewis Hamilton, behind only Max Verstappen. George Russell retired due to a Power Unit that went up in flames. Still, up until then, he was also in contention.
Charles Leclerc ended his race on the first lap due to contact with Lance Stroll. Carlos Sainz was running behind the W14 even before being penalised at the late restart. McLaren was a long way from the Brackley car.
Twelve months later, “the picture is brutal,” says Toto Wolff. “Before retiring, George was 80 seconds from Sainz and about 40 from Norris.”
They adopted a different strategy at Aston Martin, aware of the AMR24’s limitations. The British team started with Hards and switched to Medium in the second stint.
Thanks to the VSC caused by Hamilton, Alonso gained track position and important track time.
Inconsistency is the keyword at Mercedes, which returns several times in discussions regarding the W15.
“In the race, we had times that were 1 second away from McLaren. It was difficult to fight with Alonso in the middle stint. But then at the end, when we tried to push more the times were good. Not excellent, but competitive.”
Even this was not enough to save a disastrous race, where Russell could only battle Fernando Alonso for P6. Toto Wolff makes no secret that other teams prove progress is possible “if you work well”.
The examples used by Wolff include Ferrari and McLaren. Compared to 12 months ago, the pecking order in Formula 1 is very different.
“We have seen the progress that McLaren and Ferrari have managed to make in a short time.
“It’s a set of things that make the car work, and if you find the right key, it’s like flipping an on/off switch. We need to go even deeper and understand why today was brutal and painful.”
