Mercedes AMG F1 W15 experienced a challenging weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, providing valuable insights into the issues with its 2024 Formula 1 car. The team faced difficulties as Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure and George Russell crashed on the final lap. Despite this, Mercedes had shown promising performance in qualifying, with Hamilton exiting in Q2 and Russell securing seventh place, just eight-tenths off pole position. Hamilton had experimented with different setups during practice, which did not yield the desired results. However, he was pleased with the handling of his W15 car during the third practice session. Mercedes Technical Director James Allison noted a correlation between the team’s pace and the track temperature, suggesting that their competitiveness drops when the track is warm. This pattern has been observed in qualifying and race sessions, while the team performs better in cooler conditions. Although no significant setup changes were made between FP3 and qualifying in Melbourne, the team aims to address these challenges moving forward.
Mercedes was pleased with its achievement in creating a gentle car that eliminated the unpleasant rear-end behavior that defined its problematic predecessor. However, Allison acknowledges that the inconsistent surges they have faced in the first three races indicate the need to expand the operating range of the W15.
“It is more clearly defined in terms of the duration it will take,” he added. “If you have a clear goal in mind and have accurately identified the reasons behind our fluctuating competitiveness, you can develop a weekend program dedicated to adjusting the temperature and balance of the car from front to rear, using the conventional setup tools.”
“This work can be done at the factory and through simulations. However, if you reach a point where you have exhausted the setup options and still need to go further, it becomes more challenging. This may be due to underlying characteristics in the aerodynamic map or suspension that exacerbate the issue. To fully resolve it, you would need to modify these underlying features.”
“The approach can be either quick and simple or more complex and involved.”